Abhinav Singh, VP – Operations, India and Australia for Amazon, said that the company’s recent announcement here on expansion of ‘zero referral fee’ coverage to 12.5 crore products (from 1.2 crore items in 2025) has got positive and encouraging response from sellers.
“The response from the sellers has been very encouraging. They’re excited not just with the fee reduction, but also excited to pass on those benefits to the customers, so customers in the marketplace can enjoy better prices. And at the same time, from a seller perspective, they are able to improve their margin so they are really excited about it,” he said.
He said the company’s long-term outlook for India remains robust, given the structural advantages.
“… We have been very sure that for us being in India is a long-term investment… retail and within that e-commerce is just about getting started. It is a single-digit percentage of the overall retail market, and there is tremendous headroom for us to grow,” Singh told PTI.
As per a report by BCG, e-commerce — currently at USD 120-140 billion — is estimated to reach USD 280-300 billion by 2030, with a shopper base nearing 440 million; it will still be at 7-8 per cent of total consumer spends.
The BCG report noted that the shape of e-commerce is broadening with new formats gaining momentum. Category-focused platforms now account for over 60 per cent of online spending, whereas horizontal marketplaces contribute just under one-third.
Quick commerce is making need-it-now shopper missions mainstream, boosting frequency and top-ups, while social commerce and community-led discovery are bringing newer and smaller-city users into the fold of e-commerce.
E-commerce adoption is becoming more widespread, and the next wave of growth will be led by smaller cities and middle-income groups, it noted.
Singh emphasised that Amazon is upbeat about the long-term opportunities in India and has a sharp focus on speed, selection, convenience and prices that sellers offer to customers.
“Amazon is very optimistic about the long-term potential in India. There is the demographic dividend, we are a young country. The GDP is growing at a rapid pace. The infrastructure build-out is unprecedented across the world, and we are moving towards a thriving economy where people are beginning to consume a lot,” Singh elaborated.
Amazon recently announced investment plans of over USD 35 billion across its businesses in India through 2030, adding to the nearly USD 40 billion it has already infused in this market. As per the announcement in December 2025, the investment will focus on expansion as well as key areas such as AI-driven digitisation, export growth and job creation.
Singh said that with the India growth narrative, retail and e-commerce continue to log strong momentum, and added, “I see this story is going to be about India growing at an even faster pace over the next 10 years or so.”
The underlying drivers of growth are visible across Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and beyond.
“A customer anywhere in the country is going to want faster speeds, more convenience, a wider selection and better prices, and those are the things that we focus on. Our network serves every single postcode in India, right from Havelock island in Andaman to the Majuli river island (located in the Brahmaputra River) in Assam and Ladakh to the Westernmost point in India… for us, the tenants of our operation, that of speed, liability and safety remain the key,” Singh said, adding Amazon has, over the years, built an extensive network of partners including Railways, the postal network, airlines, and inhouse infrastructure, to ensure last-mile connectivity.
The company is also taking a slew of initiatives to ensure a comfortable working environment for its associates working in its facilities, including fulfillment centres, sortation centres, and delivery stations.
Amazon India recently added a new route connecting Guwahati and Kolkata to its dedicated air cargo fleet, Amazon Air, boosting services in the Northeast – a move Singh asserts is not just a logistics upgrade but also an economic enabler.
The expansion, expected to speed up shipments by 5x, will support deliveries across all seven sister states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura.
“With this expansion of the network, customers in the Northeast are going to enjoy speeds up to five times faster than what they’ve seen so far,” Singh said, adding the move will benefit both consumers and sellers, allowing businesses in the region to reach customers nationwide with greater efficiency.
