Expansion Push: Amazon Names Veteran Samir Kumar As India Head After Manish Tiwary’s Exit

Days after Manish Tiwary stepped down from his role to explore an opportunity, ecommerce major Amazon has now named its veteran Samir Kumar as the new country manager for India.

Kumar will take over operational responsibilities for India from October 1, working closely with Tiwary during the transition, Reuters reported.

With over two decades of experience in Amazon, Kumar has been a part of the original team that planned and launched Amazon India in 2013. In addition to his new role in India, he will continue to lead Amazon’s consumer businesses across the Middle East, South Africa and Turkey.

As part of this leadership change, Kumar will oversee the current India leadership team,Saurabh Srivastava (Categories), Harsh Goyal (Everyday Essentials), Amit Nanda (Marketplace), and Aastha Jain (Growth Initiatives) will now report to Samir. Additionally, Kishore Thota (Emerging Markets Shopping Experience) will report directly to Amit Nanda.

Kumar’s extensive experience at Amazon positions him well to drive the company’s growth in one of its key markets in India.

This development comes a day after Amazon India  launched three new fulfillment centres in Delhi NCR, Guwahati and Patna to support over 2.5 Lakh sellers in the region.

Ahead of the festive season the ecommerce has also been coming up with a few announcements. For instance, Amazon India recently said it has created more than 1.1 Lakh seasonal “job opportunities” in the country across its operations network to meet the growing customer demand during the upcoming festive season. 

The company is also exploring the possibility of launching a standalone app for its payments service in India.

Meanwhile, Amazon is now looking to launch its quick commerce services in India in the first quarter of next year. Its rival Flipkart launched Flipkart Minutes in select cities recently.  

Last year, Amazon India said over 38,000 sellers achieved their highest-ever single day sales during its Great Indian Festival sale. The ecommerce platforms together clocked a gross merchandise value (GMV) of about INR 47,000 Cr, which grew 19% year-on-year (YoY), just in the first week of the 2023 festive season sale.

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