Amazon head Jeff Bezos, during a meeting of the US-India Business Council on the occasion of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, announced that Amazon was ready to commit a further $3 billion to its Indian operations.”We have already created some 45,000 jobs in India and continue to see huge potential in the Indian economy,” Bezos reportedly said at the meeting, according to a statement. “Our Amazon.in team is surpassing even our most ambitious planned milestones.” That said, where is all this investment going, and will Amazon ship more books or e-books off the back of it in India?
Amazon.in currently does not offer Amazon’s Fire tablets, but the full range of Kindles, even the Kindle Oasis, are available. The Kindle Store also appears in full swing, with a wide range of stock, and the usual discount offers and other perks, including Kindle Unlimited. Jeff Bezos didn’t share any details, but it’s reasonable to assume that some at least of that investment will go to building out that platform even further. Earlier this year, Amazon also took a 26 percent stake in Indian publishing house Westland, one of India’s top five publishing houses.
Local Indian Amazon competitor Flipkart quit the e-books business some time ago, as reported in TeleRead. However, e-books as a whole apparently continue to appeal in this fast-growing subcontinent-sized economy. And books, e-books, and Kindles are all likely to play a part in Amazon’s $3 billion India ambitions.
