Amazon's India unit sees 56 percent rise in export merchants

Bengaluru: Amazon.com Inc's India unit saw a 56 per cent rise in the number of local merchants selling to international markets, hitting export sales of over USD 1 billion, the company said on Tuesday.

Indian merchants were exporting more than 140 million products on Amazon's app and website, with cumulative sales expected to top $5 billion in the next four years, country head Amit Agarwal told reporters in Bengaluru.

Amazon launched its Global Selling Program in 2015, as part of its efforts to get more small-and-medium sized vendors on board. Vendor consolidation is key in India, which is among the Seattle-based company's top growth markets.

More than 80 per cent of the company's current export vendors were from small towns and cities, vice president of seller services Gopal Pillai said.

Amazon is fighting with Walmart Inc's Flipkart for market share in the country, while dealing with changes in government rules.

In February, a new set of ecommerce regulations caused widespread disruption on Amazon's India website, when products started disappearing from its virtual shelves for some time.

Agrawal said Amazon was fully compliant with government regulations.