Amazon quarterly profit dips 77%; US etail giant ‘committed to India’

NEW DELHI: E-tailing giant Amazon's net profits tanked 77 per cent to $197 million (Rs 1,264 crore) in the June quarter hurt by wider losses in international operations, but said it remains committed to investing in India.

Amazon's operating losses in its international business widened to $724 million (Rs 4,646 crore) in June 2017 quarter against a loss of $135 million in the year-ago period.

Its revenues, on the other hand, jumped close to 25 per cent to $37.5 billion. Operating income of Amazon's North America business fell 38 per cent, while that from Amazon Web Services (AWS) rose 27 per cent.

Despite widening losses, Amazon remains committed to making further investments in India.

"...we continue to invest in India. We are very hopeful with the progress we have made with sellers and customers alike in India and we see great momentum and success there, so we continue to invest and we have some of our best people in that business," Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian T Olsavsky said in an investor call.

Explaining the company's strategy, he said: "... we continue to invest in, as I said, fulfilment capacity and logistics services, digital video... India, the buildup at the AWS infrastructure, all the things I mentioned not to mention Prime Now and Amazon Fresh and Prime benefits."

The Seattle-based company, which is locked in an intense battle with Flipkart in India, has been aggressively pumping in money across its units here, including e-commerce and payments.

Since January this year, it has pumped in $600 million (Rs 3,800 crore). It had committed investments worth $5 billion to the Indian market last year.

Amazon India, which has recently completed four years of operations, has been directing its investments towards building warehouses, strengthening logistics and increasing product assortment.

Besides, money is also being invested in marketing and promotions as the company looks to bring more consumers into shopping online on its platform. NEW DELHI: The e-commerce segment in India is growing and is likely to touch $33 billion this fiscal, the Parliament was informed on Friday.

In the 2016-17 fiscal, the online market had grown by 19 per cent, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs C R Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

"India's e-commerce market is estimated to be $33 billion in the financial year 2017," he said, quoting industry body NASSCOM'S latest estimates.

On consumer complaints, the minister said that as many as 28,770 complaints were registered against the segment on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) last fiscal.

Around 11,596 complaints were related to non-refund of payment while the rest were about defective products delivery, deficient services and poor quality/fake products, he added. "The complaints are forwarded to the companies concerned for resolution," he said.

If consumer complaints are not resolved and if there is no response from the company, then consumers are advised to approach appropriate consumer forum, he added.

At present, there is a threetier quasi-judicial mechanism in place for redressal of consumer grievances at district, state and national level.

To protect consumer interest, he said, the government has made several provisions to strengthen the consumer grievance redressal mechanism in a bill which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August 2015. NEW DELHI: The sale of Freecharge to Axis Bank will provide Snapdeal the "necessary boost in resources" to continue its e-commerce journey, Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl said.

Just hours after the deal was announced, Bahl wrote to employees seeking to assuage concerns saying Axis Bank intends to not just retain all Freecharge employees but also "invest significantly" in the team and brand.

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning s end. Building Freecharge has been a tremendously enriching experience for us. And now, it is time for us to focus our energy and passion on continuing the Snapdeal journey," Bahl said.

His comments also assume significance amid reports that the Snapdeal board is leaning towards selling the e-commerce company to Flipkart.

Snapdeal has announced the sale of the mobile payment wallet to Axis Bank for Rs 385 crore (about $60 million), which is seen to be about 80 per cent lower than the $400 million it had reportedly paid to buy Freecharge in 2015.

Bahl said the transaction with Axis Bank was "a great outcome".

"They intend to retain entire team (and build on it), invest behind the brand and leverage the world class technology platform to the fullest," he said.

He added that the leadership team of Axis Bank is committed to the digital payments space, and is willing to invest significantly behind it.

Bahl said with factors like availability of affordable smartphones and data prices as well as better infrastructure, Snapdeal has "an opportunity of a lifetime", which it "must seize".

"With the massive revolution happening in our country in the realms of very cost effective data, affordable smartphones, a unified GST tax regime, better infrastructure and rising income levels, there is no better time to be in this business," he said.

There have been reports that suggest that Bahl and cofounder Rohit Bansal are trying to convince the Snapdeal Board to go for an alternate plan, instead of selling the company to Flipkart.

The alternate plan, as per reports, is to trim Snapdeal further and continue operations on a lighter scale.

The discussions for sale with Flipkart have been on for five months now, driven proactively by Snapdeal's largest shareholder and Japanese conglomerate, Softbank.