Amazon invests Rs. 1,696 cr in India.

Global online retail giant Amazon has ploughed Rs 1,696 crore into its India unit as part of its planned $2-billion investment over the next few years in the country to take on homegrown rivals Flipkart and Snapdeal.

The investment comes at a time when the company is engaged in a battle with the Karnataka government over taxation issues. The ongoing case has restricted Amazon from growing its presence in the state, one of the key markets for online retail in India.

According to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies, Amazon's India unit received the latest investment in December, bringing the total capital infused into the company to Rs. 5,699 crore since July 2014.

In reply to a query by Business Standard, an Amazon spokesperson said the company is 'committed to invest aggressively with a long term horizon and transform the way India buys and sells'.

'We are very pleased with the growth momentum we are witnessing in India. At the end of Q3-2015, we saw an approx. 500 per cent YoY growth in volume, and in Q4-2015 we sold more than we did in all of 2014. As per comScore, Amazon.in is the Most Visited Ecommerce site in the country and we also had the fastest growing shopping app among all e-commerce companies in 2015,' the company added.


BS