Amazon intensifies Flipkart rivalry with US$2bn India investment

30 Jul 2014

Just one day after Indian online retailer Flipkart reported it had raised US$1bn for its expansion into India, along comes e-commerce giant Amazon revealing its US$2bn investment into its own Indian marketplace.

Coincidentally, Bangalore-based Flipkart’s founders are two former Amazon employees, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal.

The reason for Amazon’s investment, the company’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement today, is because India “is on track to be our fastest country ever to a billion dollars in gross sales. We’ve never seen anything like it.”

Amazon’s investment will enable the company’s team to think big, innovate, and raise the bar for customers in India, Bezos also said.

India has 243m internet users, TechCrunch reported, and Amazon and Flipkart are competing for their attention, as well as a larger chunk of India’s e-commerce marketplace. 

The Indian e-commerce market ballooned 88pc in 2013 to US$16bn, and is forecast to reach US$56bn by 2023, The Economic Times reported.

Indian currency with mouse image via Shutterstock

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

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