Manish Tiwary, the head of Amazon’s India operations, is leaving the firm “to pursue an opportunity outside of the company” as the U.S. e-commerce giant grapples with mounting pressure from competitors in one of its crucial international markets, TechCrunch has confirmed.
Tiwary, who took over as country manager in late 2020, is departing as Amazon has noticeably shifted its focus onto its cloud business in India and shuttered several other initiatives, including its food delivery venture. Amazon confirmed Tiwary’s departure in a statement that didn’t name a successor. Amit Agarwal, who previously led Amazon India and currently oversees the emerging economies initiative for the firm, will “remain closely involved with the Amazon team,” a company spokesperson said.
Amazon, which has poured more than $7 billion into India, is facing hurdles in penetrating the South Asian nation’s smaller cities and towns, where domestic rivals Flipkart, owned by Walmart, and SoftBank-backed Meesho have established stronger footholds. Industry analysts say Amazon’s struggles in these areas stem from its limited product selection for price-sensitive customers and less developed logistics networks.
Meesho has surpassed Amazon in mobile app monthly active user share among e-commerce apps in India, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note Tuesday. Flipkart has more than 50 million daily active users on its mobile apps in India, whereas Amazon has fewer than 40 million, according to Bank of America analysts.
In urban India, the U.S. giant is grappling with intensifying competition from quick commerce firms BlinkIt, Swiggy and Zepto, which are wooing customers with fast deliveries in as little as 10 minutes. Flipkart on Monday rolled out its own quick offering in Bengaluru. Amazon recently held talks to acquire a stake in Swiggy, according to people familiar with the matter.
“India is an important priority for Amazon,” Amazon added. “We are excited by the momentum and business results we have already achieved, and we are even more optimistic about the significant opportunities ahead to innovate on behalf of our customers and digitally transform lives and livelihoods.”
