Amazon India expects e-commerce exports to reach $5 billion by 2023

Firm crossed a billion dollar in e-com exports sales in three years

Bullish on growth of its ‘Global Selling’ programme, Amazon India has said it expects e-commerce exports to reach $5 billion by 2023. Amazon rarely gives out any sales projections. However, Amit Agarwal, senior vice-president and country head of Amazon India, said a 56 per cent rise in the number of Indian merchants selling abroad and a billion dollars in e-commerce exports in four years have given the company confidence to come out with this projection.

Launched with just a few hundred sellers in May 2015, it now has more than 50,000 Indian exporters in the programme, selling over 140 million products across the globe.

“The programme has scaled up extensively since then and has reached a cumulative $1 billion in export sales from India. Over the next five years, ‘India to Global’ has the potential to become huge and Amazon is confident that the Global Selling event will hit the $5-billion mark by 2023, fueling growth of millions of Indian manufacturers, exporters and small enterprises,” Agarwal said.

Amazon on Tuesday released the second edition of its annual Export Digest, revealing growth of 56 per cent in the number of global sellers from India in 2018. Amazon’s international marketplaces also saw a rise of 55 per cent in the selection of Indian products offered globally.

The company said it was working extensively with the government on the initiative and planned to increase the number of sellers exporting going forward. According to Amazon, the company has been working with the government on ease of doing global business. “Earlier, one had to file 14 forms but now it has gone down to three. There used to be a limit on how much value one can ship through courier. It has been increased from Rs 25,000 to Rs 5 lakh. The subsidy earlier used to be 2 per cent. Now, it is 4 per cent. Post offices are also accepting more international exports. There used to be many complexities. We have removed it,” Gopal Pillai, vice-president, seller services of Amazon India, said.

Being part of the global selling programme helps sellers take part in various sale events across the world, including Prime Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Amazon’s global teams also help sellers understand the demand patterns in various countries. 

The team also gives guidance on how sellers can improve discoverability of their products on each marketplace. Some of this includes guidance on the type of deals and the kind of advertisements they can run on these platforms.

Sellers day out

Number of sellers exporting from India via Amazon: 50,000

Top 5 states with most e-commerce exporters: Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh

Most sold categories: Art and crafts, musical instruments, baby products, DVDs, pet products

Top 5 cities in the US from where Indian sellers get maximum orders: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Brooklyn, Houston