Cloudtail reports Rs 32-cr loss on Rs 1,145-cr sales in FY15

The firm, a key seller on Amazon India, is a JV with Amazon and N R Narayana Murthy's Catamaran Ventures

Cloudtail India, a joint unit of online major Amazon and N R Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures, and a key seller of goods on Amazon India, reported a loss of Rs 31.7 crore for 2014-15 on sales of Rs 1,145 crore.

It began to sell in electronics and fashion on the e-commerce platform in July 2014. Cloudtail is a subsidiary of Prione Business Services, an entity with equal investment from Amazon Asia and Catamaran.

Cloudtail expects to scale up its business and build a sustainable and repeatable seller processes, with a continuous focus on bringing quality products at affordable pricing, according to documents with the registrar of companies. Cloudtail has also increased its capital to Rs 500 crore from Rs 500,000 last July. It spent Rs 339 crore on foreign exchange transactions in the year.

India’s policies prohibit foreign investment in multi-brand retailing and e-commerce. To counter it, e-commerce firms have become marketplaces, allowing thousands of vendors to sell on their platform. However,  both Amazon and Indian rival Flipkart have distribution arms through multiple structures in Cloudtail and

WS Retail. WS Retail last year sold Rs 10,163 crore worth of goods on the Flipkart platform. Amazon has yet to disclose its financials for the year.

Amazon is betting on India to grow the online business outside its American base. It has committed an investment of a little over $2 billion in India so far. Amit Agarwal, the India head, said in a recent interview that they had an 'open cheque for investment' here.