Amazon has named long-time executive Samir Kumar as the new head of its India consumer business, following an abrupt leadership change in one of its key markets last month.
Kumar, who has been with the e-commerce giant for 25 years, will assume the role of Country Manager for India, the company said.
This appointment comes in addition to Kumar’s existing responsibilities overseeing Amazon’s consumer operations in the Middle East, South Africa and Turkey, the company said.
The leadership transition was announced by Amit Agarwal, Amazon’s Senior Vice President for Emerging Markets, in an email to staff. The move follows the sudden exit of Manish Tiwary, its previous head of Amazon’s India consumer business, last month.
“India remains an important priority for Amazon, and I am super excited about the opportunity ahead as we continue to transform lives and livelihoods,” said Agarwal in a statement. “We have a strong local leadership bench and, along with Samir’s experiences across Emerging Markets, I am even more optimistic about our future plans to deliver for customers and the business in India.”
Despite investing over $7 billion in India, Amazon is facing challenges in smaller cities and towns where local competitors Flipkart (owned by Walmart) and Meesho (backed by SoftBank) have gained stronger market positions.
Meesho has overtaken Amazon in terms of monthly active users on mobile apps among e-commerce platforms in India, according to Morgan Stanley. Bank of America analysts report that Flipkart boasts over 50 million daily active users on its mobile apps in India, while Amazon lags with fewer than 40 million.
In urban India, Amazon is facing growing competition from quick commerce companies such as BlinkIt, Swiggy, and Zepto, which attract customers with rapid deliveries in as little as 10 minutes.
Flipkart recently launched its own quick delivery service in Bengaluru and the company recently started testing four-hour deliveries on Myntra, the nation’s top online fashion platform, TechCrunch reported on Monday.
Amazon has so far avoided any quick commerce offering in India.
