As the ecommerce sector begins full operations across all zones -- red, orange and green -- Amazon India has started taking orders across categories and is continuing to hire thousands of workers to meet the surge in demand, the company’s India head Amit Agarwal said.
Agarwal told CNBC-TV18 that the company will keep its pledge to support MSMEs through the $1 billion investment that founder Jeff Bezos had announced during his India visit in January this year.
“We have made a pledge to invest $1 billion for MSMEs in India. We are committed more than ever during this crisis to help small businesses,” Agarwal said.
Agarwal said Amazon India has started accepting orders across categories in accordance with the guidelines set by states.
The Ministry of Home Affairs allowed ecommerce for all products to resume everywhere barring containment zones in the fourth phase of the lockdown. Ecommerce companies were only allowed to deliver essential products in the first two phases of the lockdown, and were opened for non-essential products in green and orange zones in phase 3.
Sources told CNBC-TV18 that Amazon is now operational in more than 24 states across all zones.
Agarwal said the demand is already growing for categories that were so far not open to customers.
“Home schooling and personal grooming are categories where customers were waiting for non-essential orders to open up, so we are seeing a lot of demand for that. Grocery also continues to be in high demand,” the Amazon India head added.
Amazon India has been hiring thousands of workers for warehouses and deliveries as it looks to ramp up operations across cities. Labour has been an issue for the industry due to reverse migration, but Agarwal said Amazon was “negotiating” with workers by offering safety and health benefits.
“We are working closely with associates to meet demand. Labour was an issue, but that was negotiated by giving them confidence about healthcare benefits and safety measures to make them comfortable to work,” Agarwal said.
“We have been able to ramp up to tens of thousands of associates in the last few weeks and we are hiring thousands of seasonal workers to meet the surge in demand,” Agarwal said.
Even in the United States, where the unemployment rate is climbing every week, Amazon has hired 1,75,000 workers in the past two months and will look to hire more as it sees increase in demand.
Globally, Amazon has continued to grow its workforce with over 36,000 job openings at the end of April, which is up by 19 percent year-over-year, according to a report by Citi.
Agarwal said restarting of the economy will also be a boost to the 6 lakh sellers and SMEs on its platforms which have been impacted by the lockdown.
Agarwal said while sellers are evaluating the relief they can get from the MSME package, Amazon India was working to help them by lowering their costs.
“We have waived 50% of seller fees, and have given on-demand disbursement to help with cash flow, among other measures,” Agarwal said.
“It is important to get our perspective around the huge opportunity that Amazon has to help India through the crisis,” he added.
First Published: May 19, 2020 11:08 PM IST
