By Manoj Kumar
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Amazon Inc expects to help Indian exporters sell about $5 billion worth of small-ticket items through its platform this year in markets such as the United States and Britain, up from nearly $3 billion in 2023, a company official said.
Under the Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Global Selling programme, launched in 2015, nearly 150,000 small exporters across India are expected to sell their products directly to overseas consumers using the company's e-commerce platform.
"We are investing significantly in tools and technologies to help sellers optimise their reach, enhance product discovery, and increase sales," Bhupen Wakankar, director of global trade at Amazon, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday, ahead of an exporters' meeting in New Delhi.
Amazon is on track to help tens of thousands of Indian businesses to surpass a cumulative $13 billion in e-commerce exports by the end of 2024, a company statement said.
The move by one of the world's largest e-commerce companies underscores India's growing role in the global supply chain and reflects a broader trend among multinational corporations to diversify supplies away from China.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Inc said in 2020 it planned to hike its supplies from India to $10 billion a year by 2027, up from about $3 billion at that time.
Wakankar said Amazon had partnered with the India's commerce ministry and trade associations to connect with small manufacturers across the country offering products from textiles and jewellery to household items and Ayurveda products.
Such items are usually easy to post directly to customers abroad and less affected by import taxes than costlier products.
Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart have reshaped India's retail landscape in recent years, investing billions of dollars to source supplies from small businesses and attracting consumers through hefty discounts.
But they face criticism from trading and political groups.
India's commerce minister has accused Amazon and other e-commerce companies of predatory pricing practices and said the sector's rapid rise should not disrupt millions of brick-and-mortar stores operating in the country.
Last June, Amazon announced plans to increase its investments in India to $26 billion by 2030, including funds for its cloud business.
The company aims to facilitate $20 billion in cumulative e-commerce exports from India by 2025, Wakankar added.