Amazon India's exports surpass $1 billion mark, likely to touch $5 bn in 4 years

The export sales of the American e-commerce giant Amazon's India unit has crossed the $1 billion mark as the number of local merchants selling to the international market increased by 56%. Country's top executives estimate the exports to touch $5 billion in 4 years under its global selling program.

The US based online retailer said it was closely working with government on bringing about policy changes that would enable e-commerce exports to scale up. "We believe that growing 'Make in India' exports will be an integral lever for India to grow," The Economic Times quoted Amit Agarwal, senior vice-president and country head, Amazon India, as saying.

According to Agarwal, who just completed 20 years at Amazon, the government is playing a crucial role in creating a conducive policy framework for exports by reducing documentation, digitising the entire customs clearance process and adding more foreign post offices across India.

The e-commerce behemoth launched its global selling program in the year 2015 to facilitate easy, simple and convenient access to sell the products to consumers across the globe from India. Currently, over 37,000 Indian manufacturers, sellers and exporters are using this platform to sell their offerings across Amazon's 10 international marketplaces. The program offers a comprehensive suite of end-to-end solutions that include assisting with imaging, logistics, tax advisory and remittance.

Amazon's global rival Walmart also directly obtains products from India across categories including textiles, apparel, home furnishing, and pharmaceuticals, amongst others. In fact, India has emerged as the largest sourcing hub for the e-retailer.

The rise in export sales by the global retail giants comes at a time when the Indian government has been aggressive about more than doubling the country's share in world exports from 1.6% to at least 3.4%, the report added.

"In 2019, we look forward to leverage our global experience in cross-border ecommerce, resources and localised professional services to help many more small businesses upgrade and optimise in order to develop an international footprint by leveraging the massive demand for their products across the globe," the daily quoted  Eric L Broussard, vice -president and head International Seller Services at Amazon.com, as saying.

(Edited by: Nehal Solanki)

Also read: Amazon Global Selling programme crosses $1 billion in exports sales from India

Also read: Amazon targets USD 5 billion e-commerce exports from India by 2023