After food delivery and education, Amazon to shut distribution services in India

Tech and e-commerce giant Amazon has decided to shut its distribution services in India after closing its food delivery and education service, Business Today has learnt.

The company plans to focus on its core business and is cutting back on other verticals. A source told Business Today, "This step was taken in light of the economic slowdown, the company will focus more on core businesses now on."

Amazon Distribution operates mainly in Bengaluru, Hubli, and Mysore and employs roughly 50 people. The distribution unit sources fast moving consumer goods from companies and distributes them to retailers.

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Business Today has reached out to Amazon for a comment on the development. The copy will be updated when the company responds.

Amazon India decided to shut its food delivery service, Amazon Food, on Friday, as a part of its annual operating planning review process.

The tech behemoth also pulled the plug on its ed-tech service, Amazon Academy, last week. Amazon Academy was launched by the company during the COVID-19 lockdown when ed-tech companies like BYJU's, Unacademy, Vedantu, and others witnessed a boom.

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The company was summoned by the Labour Ministry last week for a hearing regarding its Voluntary Separation Program, a plan under which Indian employees were urged to exit from the company in lieu of certain monetary benefits.

The deputy chief commissioner at the Labour Ministry, A Anjanappa, summoned Amazon's senior public policy manager, Smitha Sharma, along with the employee association NITES for a hearing.

In the hearing, the company claimed that the exits by employees were voluntary and no undue pressure was put on employees to resign. Employee representatives could not attend the hearing and requested a postponement. Business Today has learnt that the meeting will reconvene in two to three weeks' time.

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