Amazon, Facing Unfavorable Regulatory Environment, Struggles To Expand in India

Amazon is lagging its chief rival Flipkart in India on several key metrics and struggling to make inroads in smaller Indian cities and towns, according to a scathing report by investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein. TechCrunch: The American e-commerce giant's 2021 gross merchandise value in the country, where it has deployed over $6.5 billion, stood between $18 billion to $20 billion, lagging Flipkart's $23 billion, the analysts said in a report to clients Tuesday that was obtained by TechCrunch. India is a key overseas market for Amazon, where it competes with tycoon Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail, which launched grocery shopping on WhatsApp this week, Walmart-owned Flipkart and social commerce startups SoftBank-backed Meesho and Tiger Global-backed DealShare. Amazon has so far offered "a weaker proposition in 'new' commerce" in the country, the report added. At stake is one of the world's last great growth markets. The e-commerce spending in India, the world's second largest internet market, is expected to double in size to over $130 billion by 2025.

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