Amazon India appoints new country head

BENGALURU: Amazon on Wednesday said Samir Kumar, a veteran in the company for 25 years, has been appointed to lead India’s consumer business for the e-commerce giant. The appointment is effective October 1.

Outgoing country manager for Amazon India, Manish Tiwary, has decided to explore an opportunity outside the company, a company statement said.

Samir Kumar will take on the responsibility of leading India as its country manager, in addition to his current role that leads Amazon’s consumer businesses in the Middle East, South Africa, and Turkey. Kumar, who joined Amazon in 1999 as a systems engineer, was a part of the team that planned and launched Amazon India in 2013. He graduated in electrical engineering at the NIT Rourkela in 1993 and earned a master's degree from Utah State University in 1995.

The current leadership in the division – Saurabh Srivastava in charge of Categories, Harsh Goyal in charge of Everyday Essentials, Amit Nanda in charge of Marketplace, and Aastha Jain in charge of Growth Initiatives – will now report to Kumar. Only Kishore Thota, who is in charge of Emerging Markets Shopping Experience, will report to Amit Agarwal, senior vice president for Emerging Markets. Agarwal was previously country manager for India from 2013 to 2022.

“India remains an important priority for Amazon, and I am super excited about the opportunity ahead as we continue to transform lives and livelihoods. We have a strong local leadership bench and, along with Samir’s experiences across Emerging Markets, I am even more optimistic about our future plans to deliver for customers and the business in India,” Agarwal said in the statement.

The change in leadership comes on the heels of festive season sales, which typically command about 15% of overall yearly sales for e-commerce players in the country. The e-commerce market share continues to get divided with the emergence of quick commerce players even as competition intensifies with old rival Flipkart. Amazon India and Walmart-owned Flipkart are set to kick off their annual festival season sales on September 27.