Amazon created more than 1.16 mn jobs, digitised 4 mn MSMEs in India

E-commerce firm Amazon on Sunday said that it has cumulatively created more than1.16 million direct and indirect jobs, enabled nearly $5 billion in cumulative exports, and digitised over 4 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India till date.

In January 2020, at the first edition of its annual event Amazon Smbhav, the company had pledged to digitise 10 million MSMEs, enable $10 billion in cumulative exports and create 2 million jobs in India by 2025. Amazon is well on track to fulfil these pledges, while in fact doubling its export pledge from India, to now enable $20 billion in cumulative exports from India by 2025, the company said.

“As we continue to work with MSMEs across the country, we remain committed to bringing new tools, technology and innovation that will unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of Indian businesses, boost exports from the country and help create jobs at scale,” said Manish Tiwary, country manager, India Consumer Business, Amazon India.

“We strongly believe that technology and mobile internet will continue to positively impact India’s economic growth, and we see Amazon playing a larger role in the country’s digital transformation and a modern, thriving digital economy.”

In 2021, the company had announced the $250 million Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund to invest in startups and entrepreneurs who are focused on technology innovations. The fund is focused on supporting entrepreneurs and startups that are doing innovative work in the area of SMB digitisation. As part of the fund, Amazon has already invested in ‘MyGlamm’, ‘M1xchange’ and ‘Small Case’.

In the past one year, Amazon helped create over 135,000 direct and indirect jobs across industries. These jobs are across industries like information technology, e-commerce, logistics, manufacturing, content creation and skill development as well as other indirect jobs that Amazon has helped create in the seller community.

The firm said it focused on creating a robust infrastructure to help Indian businesses address customers in over 200 countries and territories, create global brands from India and grow exports strongly through its Global Selling programme. The programme is has more than 100,000 exporters who are on track to cross $5 billion in cumulative exports. Amazon Global Selling took three years to enable the first billion dollars in cumulative exports and only 17 months to enable the last $2 billion.

Amazon has digitised over 4 million MSMEs including sellers, artisans and weavers, delivery and logistics service partners. The company’s digitisation efforts are empowering small businesses including local retail stores, artisans and grassroot entrepreneurs to reach their customers and broaden their reach even further.

In July 2021, Amazon opened its first Digital Kendra in Surat to bring the benefits of digitisation closer to small businesses. The Kendra has already served over 4,000 small businesses from Surat and nearby areas in their digitisation journey.

Recently, Amazon’s chief rival Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, said it is now offering Indian manufacturers and trading companies an opportunity for international expansion as cross-border sellers on Walmart Marketplace, where they could reach a growing market of more than 120 million US consumers each month.

Along with its Indian company Flipkart and cross-border commerce company Payoneer, Walmart laid out a detailed roadmap for local sellers with export ambitions at the recent Walmart Global Seller Summit in New Delhi. The roadmap is part of Walmart's efforts to expand its sourcing from India to $10 billion a year by 2027.

In 2021, Flipkart said it is creating direct seasonal employment for more than 115,000 people of which 15 per cent are women and people with disabilities.