“I'm excited to share that we will invest an incremental US$1 billion to digitize micro and small businesses in cities in cities, towns, and villages across India,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who is on a three-day visit to India, said in a letter, on Friday 17 January.
Jeff Bezos, in a letter posted on the Amazon India homepage, touched upon India’s growing significance in Amazon’s worldwide business and its future plans in the country. The letter also detailed the company’s efforts towards sustainable growth.
Bezos said that over 5,50,000 small and medium businesses are using Amazon to offer products to Indian customers. He also said that stores like Karigar and Saheli, have enabled over a million entrepreneurs to go online and more than 60,000 businesses are exporting ‘Make in India’ products globally, with cumulative exports exceeding $1 billion.
The Karigar and Saheli stores are dedicated storefronts on Amazon.in to display handicraft products and products from women entrepreneurs to sell to thousands of Amazon customers across India.
He further said that the company has also invested in sustainable growth and is the first company to sign the Climate Pledge. It also said that it will end single-use plastic across its fulfillment centres by June 2020. Further, Amazon is adding 10,000 electric rickshaws to its delivery fleet, Bezos said.
"I fall more in love with India every time I return here. The boundless energy, innovation and grit of the Indian people always inspires me," Bezos said while announcing that the company will invest $1 billion to digitize micro and small businesses in India.
He said that this will help enable $10 billion in exports of Indian products by 2025.
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