In a bid to show its supremacy in India’s domestic e-commerce market and also get past Flipkart, Amazon has pushed in a record capital of Rs 1,950 crore into its main India unit, it is gathered.
According to sources, Amazon Seller Services has in all received Rs 8,150 crore (about $1.3 billion) so far in 2017-18 from its US parent as per filings submitted with the Registrar of Companies.
The latest capital infusion is reportedly the fourth since Flipkart raised $4 billion (about Rs 25,380 crore) around the middle of last year.
The report also says that the frequent capital infusions indicate Amazon India’s increased spending towards acquiring new customers and growing market share.
The online marketplace is spending $120 million every month, $75 million on ecommerce and $45 million on its subscription service Prime higher than its average monthly cash burn rate of $80-100 million in 2016.
“Amazon’s (cash) burn is increasing due to push in three categories — smartphones, fashion and grocery,” Satish Meena, senior forecast analyst at Forrester Research has reportedly said. “As its burn increases, it will see more infusions. In fact, 2018 will see both Flipkart and Amazon spending a lot on offline strategies,” he added.
The retailer had infused Rs 2,900 crore into Amazon Seller Services in November 2017.
Amazon India’s subsidiaries like Amazon Wholesale, Amazon Pay, Amazon Transport and Amazon Data Services have received a combined Rs 2,868 crore since 2016.
