Amazon says will continue to invest in India despite shutting three verticals

Technology and e-commerce behemoth Amazon has said that the company is committed to India and will continue its investments in the country despite winding down its ed-tech, food delivery, and wholesale distribution verticals.

Responding to Business Today’s queries, an Amazon spokesperson said, “We remain committed to India and will continue to invest across those areas where we can bring value to our customers.”

Last Thursday, the company pulled the plug on Amazon Academy, it's ed-tech vertical. Amazon also decided to shut down its food delivery service, Amazon Food, on Friday.

Business Today, earlier today, reported that the company had shut down its wholesale distribution vertical which operated in Karnataka after its annual operating planning review process.

Also Read: After food delivery and education, Amazon to shut distribution services in India - BusinessToday

The company confirmed the development and said in a statement, “As part of our annual operating planning review process, we have made the decision to discontinue Amazon Distribution, our wholesale e-commerce website for small neighborhood stores around Bengaluru, Mysore & Hubli.”

The spokesperson highlighted, “We don’t take these decisions lightly.”

Amazon said that the operations would be discontinued in a phased manner to avoid inconveniences to customers, partners and employees. 

“We are discontinuing this program in a phased manner to take care of current customers and partners and we are supporting our affected employees during this transition,” the company spokesperson said.

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The spokesperson said, “At Amazon, we think big, experiment, and invest in new ideas to delight customers. We also continually evaluate the progress and potential of our products and services to deliver customer value, and we regularly make adjustments based on those assessments.”

Recently the company got into trouble with the Labour Ministry of India because of its Voluntary Separation Program under which employees were urged to leave the company in lieu of certain monetary benefits. The company claimed in the Labour Ministry hearing that the exits from the company were voluntary and no undue pressure was put on employees.

Earlier this month, Amazon announced that the company would terminate 10,000 employees to cut costs and brace for the economic slowdown. The tech giant had already frozen the hiring of new employees to keep costs under check.

Also Read: Amazon denies firing employees in India; next Labour Ministry hearing in 2-3 weeks - BusinessToday