The US based e-commerce company Amazon is investing over Rs 4,400 crore (more than USD 600 million) in its various subsidiaries in India, including marketplace and food retail to compete with various e-commerce companies.
The company had registered cumulative losses of over Rs 7,000 crore across various units in 2018-19. Amazon Retail India posted a loss of Rs 127.4 crore and revenue of Rs 139 crore in 2019.
The board accorded a go-ahead for allotment of 340 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each aggregating to Rs 3,400 crore to the existing shareholder on right basis.
The resolution was passed by the board of directors of Amazon Seller Services on 14 October 2019.
Amazon Corporate Holdings and Amazon.com.inc are investing Rs 3,400 crore in Amazon Seller Services, the company’s online marketplace; Rs 900 crore in Amazon Pay (India), the digital payments arm of the online company and Rs 172.5 crore in Amazon Retail India.
A resolution was passed for allotment of 17.25 crore equity shares of Amazon Retail India (aggregating to Rs 172.5 crore), and Rs 90 crore equity shares of Amazon Pay (India) (totalling Rs 900 crore) to Amazon Corporate Holdings and Amazon.com.inc were also approved by the boards on 17 October 2019.
The company has built sourcing and delivery capabilities for food as varied as dry grocery, packaged foods, fruits, vegetables, protein foods, dairy and other frozen products. It is gearing up to set up a sorting, grading and packing centre for fruits and vegetables.
The company has also identified a location for setting up a collection centre to support this unit that will enable it to source fruits and vegetables directly from farmers and local mandis.