E-commerce giant Amazon remains bullish on India, introducing new features for customers and sellers, even as the region continues to weigh heavy on the US-based company’s finance.
For the December quarter, Amazon’s International business posted an operating loss of USD 487 million, up significantly from USD 108 million in the year-ago period.
Its North America business had an operating income of USD 816 million (up 28.3 per cent year-on-year), while that from AWS was higher by 59.6 per cent to USD 926 million during the said quarter. Overall, net sales was up 22 per cent to USD 43.7 billion, while net income grew 55.3 per cent to USD 749 million in the fourth quarter.
“I’d point out India which continues to be a rather large investment for us… So, it’s still very early. We continue to say that, but we are very encouraged with what we’ve created with customers and sellers alike in India over the last few years. We continue to develop new functionality for that country, whether it’s delivery, whether it’s seller features,” Amazon CFO Brian T Olsavsky said on a conference call.
He added the company has rolled out new products in India like Prime Video recently.
“We will continue to build our business there and continue to do a great job for both customers and sellers. We’re bullish on India (for) longer-term and it’s early. But we like the initial engagement we’re seeing and the response from, again, both customers and sellers,” he said.
Amazon has been aggressively investing in areas like marketing and promotions and expanding infrastructure in India. Betting big on the burgeoning e-commerce market in India, its chief Jeff Bezos had said the company will invest USD 3 billion in India, taking its total investment committed here to over USD 5 billion.