Amazon Fuels $52.7 Mn In Wholesale Unit; Appoints Shalini Puchalapalli As Director

The US-based ecommerce giant Amazon is bullish on its growth in India. As per a recent update, the company has fuelled about $52.7 Mn (INR 341 Cr) in Indian subsidiary Amazon Wholesale, as per documents filed with the RoC.

The capital infusion in the wholesale unit was done by Amazon Corporate Holding Singapore and Amazon Inc Malaysia in May 2017. It takes the total investment to about $117 Mn (INR 756 Cr). In September 2016, the ecommerce giant infused $17 Mn in its Indian wholesale arm to increase the transaction of smartphones via its B2B portal, in compliance with revised FDI norms. Also, in December 2016, a fresh capital of $23.5 Mn (INR 160 Cr) was injected in the wholesale arm.

A company spokesperson said, “We are relentlessly focussed on expanding our selection and raising the standard for customer experience and online shopping in India. With Amazon Wholesale India, our vision is to build a place where businesses can come to find and discover virtually anything they want to buy online.”

Amazon Wholesale (India) Pvt. Ltd was founded in 2013. According to its official website, the B2B arm currently serves small and medium business (SMBs) in Bengaluru and Mangaluru and deals in office products, stationery, household supplies, healthcare products, personal care, food, and beverages. It currently claims to account for more than 10,000 sellers in Bengaluru.

With this move, the company has also appointed Shalini Puchalapalli as the Director of Amazonbusiness.in. This is the platform operated by the wholesale arm. Puchalapalli became a part of the company in July 2016 and is Director of New Initiatives at the company.

The news of this latest fund infusion comes a day after news surfaced that the company has poured in about $260 Mn (INR 1,680 Cr) in Amazon Seller Services. This takes the total money invested in the India unit to about $2.1 Bn (INR 13,800 Cr).

In March 2017, the Indian arm of ecommerce giant managed to secure a licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to operate a prepaid payment instrument (PPI). To this end, it pumped in $10.5 Mn in its digital wallet Amazon Pay.

(The development was reported by ET.)