The India unit of global e-commerce giant Amazon said Monday its ‘Global Selling’ program has helped 60,000 Indian exporters to sell ‘Made in India’ products worth USD 2 billion to global customers, accounting for 0.34% of India’s total exports in 2018-19, in over two years.
Through its 15 international websites, Amazon allowed Indian MSMEs to list their products in categories such as home, health and personal care, apparel, jewelry, and kitchen ware to buyers in countries such as the US, UK, UAE, Canada, Mexico, Germany, among others.
The US was the biggest market for Indian exporters on Amazon that saw major international sale events such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Prime Day, e-tailer’s biggest global shopping event for Prime subscribers, drive their sales.
Amazon India launched its export business in 2015 to allow micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including manufacturers, retailers, brands, and traders to sell through e-commerce exports. Earlier this year, the company had said it would enable USD 10 billion in cumulative exports by 2025.
“It took the program three years to hit cumulative exports of USD 1 billion and it has grown 100% to hit the next USD 1 billion in less than 18 months, to cross the USD 2 billion milestone in cumulative exports from India. The program is rapidly boosting exports from India and helping build global Indian brands,” Amit Agarwal, senior VP and country head, Amazon India, said, during the third leg of Amazon’s ‘Exports Digest 2020.’
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India showed negative growth in its total exports of goods and services in the first quarter of this year which is estimated to be USD 27.96 billion. India’s minister for MSMEs, Nitin Gadkari, said worldwide e-commerce marketplaces offer an opportunity for Indian MSMEs to tap into the overseas market opportunities and access consumers across the globe directly.
“This sector (MSME) provides employment to over 11 crore Indians, contributes to around a third of the country’s GDP and accounts for about half of the country’s exports,” Gadkari said.
Amazon India’s local competitor, Flipkart, had also intended to start its export unit in 2017 as part of eBay’s investment in Flipkart which included selling its India business, eBay.in to the latter. Although, its export unit called Flipkart Global was shut down after eBay ended its strategic partnership with Flipkart in 2018 and sold its shares worth USD 1.1 billion during Walmart’s acquisition of the homegrown e-tailer.
“Following the close of the transaction, we also will be ending our current strategic relationship with Flipkart, which includes unwinding our commercial agreements with Flipkart and terminating Flipkart’s license to use the eBay.in brand.” the company said in a statement.
