Amazon has grown rapidly in India over the last decade, adding millions of sellers and entering new markets like grocery and digital payments in addition to traditional ones like apparel, cosmetics, and travel arrangements.
Parts of Amazon.com Inc.'s operations in India will be shut down, proving that not even India's massive consumer market of 1.4 billion people is safe from CEO Andy Jassy's cost-cutting drive.
The firm said it will stop delivering both meals and consumer products in bulk to companies' front doors. A source with knowledge of the situation has said that just a few hundred employees out of thousands would be let go, enabling Amazon to focus on its core services, such as online shopping, in the nation.
The global slowdown in key Amazon business sectors has prompted Jassy to cut costs and staff throughout the globe. With regulatory pressure and competition from indigenous giants like Reliance Industries Ltd. and Tata Group, as well as Walmart Inc.'s Flipkart, Amazon is having a hard time in India, one of the world's fastest expanding e-commerce marketplaces. Despite investing billions in food delivery and payments in India over the last decade, the business has not achieved the same level of domination in India as it has in other areas, such as the United States.
Speaking on condition of anonymity about internal company discussions, the source claimed that many projects now in beta testing are also likely to be scrapped. Amazon has announced that it would be closing its Amazon Academy learning platform in the coming months. The programme now serves as an online exam prep resource for students in India who are applying to medical and engineering colleges.
The number of jobs lost in the nation is expected to be in the hundreds, the source added, which is a small percentage of Amazon's roughly 10,000-strong e-commerce staff in India. Overall, Amazon's global businesses employ over 100,000 Americans full-time.
For making what it terms "voluntary separation" offers and giving employees just until Dec. 6 to decide, the firm has drawn the ire of a labour union representing computer professionals. It's important to note that Amazon, Inc. does not have its own union.
It has been reported by some in the know that Amazon intends to lay off about 10,000 workers worldwide. Jassy has placed a stop on recruiting for some corporate jobs and discontinued a number of experimental and smaller initiatives in preparation for the Christmas quarter, which it predicts will see the weakest sales gain in company history.
Amazon's food delivery service, Amazon Food, was first introduced in India in 2020. From paratha-stuffed bread to McDonald's burgers and fries, all kinds of cuisines are represented. Although Amazon's business-customer division will still provide stores and wholesalers with items like food and medical supplies, it will no longer offer door delivery of packaged consumer products.
The business wrote in an email, "We are ending these projects in a staggered way to take care of existing clients and partners." "We are still dedicated to India and will keep investing in the areas where we can provide the most value to our consumers."
Amazon has grown rapidly in India over the last decade, adding millions of sellers and entering new markets like grocery and digital payments in addition to traditional ones like apparel, cosmetics, and travel arrangements. Among the categories the corporation plans to concentrate on in India are grocery, consumer electronics, fashion, and business-to-business deals.
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