Retail giant Amazon is planning to invest $5 billion to turn India into its biggest market outside the U.S., the Economic Times reports.
Amazon has completed two years in India, where its business is now worth at least $2 billion in gross merchandise value on the e-commerce side, and includes fast-growing revenue from top Amazon Web Services customers in the country. Amazon chief executive and founder Jeff Bezos said, “After our first year in business, the response from customers and small and medium-sized businesses in India has far surpassed our expectations.”
Time reports that e-commerce is booming in India, with one recent study forecasting a 67% hike in average annual spending on online purchases in 2015. The report, created by Indian industry body ASSOCHAM and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, also said that the country’s e-commerce industry was likely to increase in value from some $17 billion in 2014 to $100 billion by 2019.
