A day after Flipkart announced a $1 billion round of funding, its emerging rival in India, the Amazon marketplace on Wednesday announced that it will invest an additional US $2 billion to support its “rapid growth and continue to enhance the customer and seller experience in India”.
Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal-led Flipkart is on a high, having raised $1 billion from a group of investors, led by Tiger Global and Naspers, a deal that is likely to take the online marketplace?s valuation to around $5 billion.
?After our first year in business, the response from customers and small and medium-sized businesses in India has far surpassed our expectations,? said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.
?We see huge potential in the Indian economy and for the growth of e-commerce in India. With this additional investment of US $2 billion, our team can continue to think big, innovate, and raise the bar for customers in India. At current scale and growth rates, India is on track to be our fastest country ever to a billion dollars in gross sales. A big ?thank you? to our customers in India ? we?ve never seen anything like this.”
Amazon.in already has a significant base of small and medium-sized businesses. Amazon claims that the customers across several cities in India are increasingly enjoying its guaranteed next-day delivery on more than 300,000 products fulfilled by Amazon.
Amazon.in also claims to be India?s largest store with over 17 million products.
