Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd, the local arm of Amazon.com, has received another Rs 1,950 crore ($306.3 million) as the global e-commerce giant continues its quick pace of investments in the country, filings with the Registrar of Companies show.
Amazon Inc. and its Singapore-based division, Amazon Corporate Holdings Pvt Ltd, made the investment in the Indian arm, the filings stated.
The development was first reported by The Economic Times.
"We remain committed to our India business with a long-term perspective to make e-commerce a habit for Indian customers and to invest in the necessary technology and infrastructure to grow the entire ecosystem. We are delighted and humbled by the trust from our customers, to lead e-commerce in India," an Amazon spokesperson told VCCircle in an email response.
The latest investment comes a little over two months after Amazon’s Indian unit received Rs 2,900 crore ($446 million), its single largest infusion into the country’s operations till date. At the same time, Amazon Seller Services also nearly doubled its authorised share capital from Rs 16,000 crore ($2.4 billion) to Rs 31,000 crore ($4.7 billion).
Amazon Seller Services, probably the largest entity of the US-based e-tailer in India, runs the e-commerce marketplace business, including its sellers’ network. It has over 250,000 registered sellers on its platform.
The latest development reiterates Amazon’s $5-billion investment commitment to India, which founder Jeff Bezos made in 2015. Industry estimates indicate that the e-commerce behemoth is yet to reach the $5-billion investment mark. Amazon’s investment commitment in India will be constantly revised as and when required, considering the importance accorded to the country.
Amazon India’s $5-billion investment, as and when the company completes it entirely, would make it the largest only-equity-funded Indian entities, with $4.7 billion in equity alone.
According to Capitaline, an Indian corporate database for both listed and unlisted companies, Amazon is the second largest Indian company in terms of authorised capital, next to Reliance Jio, whose capital stands at Rs 61,000 crore. To give a better idea of the scale of its operations, Amazon India has already overtaken Vodafone Mobile, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Tata Teleservices and L&T Metro Rail.
In comparison, homegrown e-commerce major Flipkart has raised over $6 billion by various estimates, followed by Ola at nearly $3.13 billion and Paytm at $2.2 billion.
