Amazon has announced that it will invest additional $3 billion in India operations. The latest move will take e-commerce giant’s total investment to $5 billion in the country.
Amazon CEO Jef Bezos made the investment announcement at the U.S.-India Business Council’s Leadership Summit in Washington. The event was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Amazon which forayed into the Indian market in mid 2013, has already pumped in about $2 billion in 2014 in the country to compete with rivals Flipkart and Snapdeal. Snapdeal secured $200 million in funding in February this year while Flipkart is still eyeing upto $1 billion in funding.
“We have already created some 45,000 jobs in India and continue to see huge potential in the Indian economy”, said Bezos. Currently, Amazon runs as a marketplace model in India as it is not allowed to sell directly under FDI guidelines. Amazon will use the raised funds to start-ups in India and accelerate the country’s role as a hub for innovation and digital entrepreneurship.
Bezos said Amazon would open a Web Services Cloud Region in India this year and a largest software engineering and development center outside of the United States, located in Hyderabad.