Amazon India said on Tuesday that it has increased the size of its $250 million Smbhav Venture Fund by allocating $120 million for investments in manufacturing and artificial intelligence businesses in the nation. The statement was made during Smbhav, the company’s annual small business event.
The fund was established in 2021 and now supports technological businesses. Previously, it concentrated on startups in the healthcare and agriculture sectors. Still, it has since broadened its emphasis to include direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands and industries, including manufacturing, finance, and gaming. The Good Glamm Group, FreshToHome, XYXX, Hopscotch, Cashify, Acko Insurance, small case, M1xchange, and others are among the businesses in its portfolio.
The business said on Tuesday that it will facilitate over $80 billion in total e-commerce exports from India by 2030, which is four times more than its 2025 commitment to facilitate $20 million in e-commerce exports. Amazon reports a considerable demand for “Made in India” items in the categories of toys, clothing and textiles, home and kitchen, health and nutrition supplements, and Ayurveda.
Since 2015, Amazon India claims to have facilitated around $13 billion in e-commerce exports from the nation through its Amazon Global Selling initiative. More than 1.5 lakh registered retailers from more than 200 Indian cities are presently part of the program. According to the business, the sellers’ total export revenue from India is expected to exceed $20 billion by the end of 2024.
“This important milestone will be driven by a combination of sourcing Made-in-India products to be sold on Amazon’s global marketplaces and enabling exports through Amazon’s Global Selling program for Indian MSMEs, manufacturers, and D2C startups,” Samir Kumar, Country Manager, Amazon India, stated at the event.
After successfully testing both services in India, the business on Tuesday also announced the full-fledged launch of its logistics services, Amazon Freight and Amazon Shipping. While Amazon Shipping experimented in 2021, Amazon Freight began its test in India earlier this year. With full truckload choices ranging from 5 to 40 feet, Amazon Freight specialises in intra-city and inter-city transportation services. Conversely, Amazon Shipping serves over 14,000 pin codes as a last-mile business-to-consumer delivery service.
Amazon became the first e-commerce business in India to operate a dedicated air cargo network when it started Amazon Air in January 2023. The business said on Tuesday that it had digitised 12 million MSMEs nationwide, exceeding its goal of digitising 10 million MSMEs a year early. Additionally, it claimed to have generated close to 1.4 million direct and indirect employment.
