Nitin Gadkari, minister for micro, small and medium enterprises, who attended a session with Amazon India head Amit Agarwal on Indian sellers doubling their global sales to $2 billion, urged the e-tailer to look at possible ‘import substitutes’ for products sold on its India platform. The minister said he wasn’t “questioning” Amazon India’s imports, but highlighted it as an area of potential opportunity. “As an Indian company, because of your presence in India, let us find out what is to be ‘import substitute’, which is coming here in India from abroad. The same thing whether it’s possible to get at lower cost and better quality that is also a good initiative.”
His comments came after Agarwal announced Indian sellers’ exports of ‘Made in India’ goods on Amazon’s global markets has doubled to $2 billion of gross sales as of June. The 60,000 sellers on the programme took less than 18 months to clock the additional $1 billion of sales compared to the over 3 years they needed to register the first billion dollars of gross sales last year. Gadkari’s statement comes at a time when the government is scrutinising Chinese imports and asking e-tailers to highlight countries of origin on their platforms due to a border conflict with China. Gadkari also requested Amazon India to make efforts on product development and design of local wares to be sold abroad, beyond just offering a marketing platform. “It will increase your turnover and it will help the Indian economy as well,” he added.
Amazon India declined to comment on Gadkari’s remarks on imports in India. Last week, TOI reported that Amazon India has made it mandatory for sellers to display ‘country of origin’ in all their listings new and existing as anti-China sentiment prevails in the country. E-commerce platforms see millions of Chinese products sold on their platforms owing to pricing advantages. This includes third-party sellers, independent brands and the in-house labels of e-commerce companies.
Agarwal’s announcement on Indian exports comes after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, during his India visit in January, announced a plan to clock $10 billion of exports by 2025. These Indian sellers, ranging from independent merchants to brands like Amul, have a selection of 140 million products they are offering to consumers in over 200 countries. But a majority come from the US and Europe. According to Amazon India, global unit sales of Indian merchants grew 72% during its Prime Day sale on a year-on-year basis, while the same was 76% during Black Friday sales.