Amazon CEO Makes First India Visit, Rapid Delivery Expands to 300 Cities
Claire Weston
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is making his first trip to India since taking the role, announcing an expansion of instant-delivery service Amazon Now to over 300 cities — the company's biggest quick-commerce push yet, aimed squarely at local rivals Flipkart and Blinkit.
How fast is Amazon Now scaling?
Amazon Now launched in a handful of Indian cities last year, grew to 100 locations, and has now jumped to over 300 in one move.
Amazon calls it "the fastest-growing commerce business in Amazon India's history," with orders doubling every quarter.
This means → Amazon has shifted from pilot mode to full rollout — the pace is no longer incremental.
How crowded is India's quick-commerce race?
Quick commerce — the promise of delivery within 10 minutes — covers groceries, books, and everyday goods.
Amazon faces entrenched rivals: Walmart-backed Flipkart and Eternal Ltd.'s Blinkit already hold scale advantages in this segment.
This means → Amazon is not creating a new market — it is pouring capital into a fight where local players already lead.
Why is Jassy visiting India only now?
Jassy succeeded founder Jeff Bezos as CEO in 2021 and had repeatedly declined invitations from Amazon's India team to visit.
Bloomberg reported that Jassy takes a pragmatic view of India, with his strategic focus tilted toward AWS data centers — especially as AI demand has made cloud the company's core growth engine.
In plain terms = for the past few years, "India" in Jassy's playbook looked more like a cloud-computing market than an e-commerce battlefield.
Where does the $35 billion investment promise actually go?
Amazon has pledged to invest more than $35 billion in India by 2030.
The bulk of that, however, is earmarked for AI-related data centers, not e-commerce.
This means → the quick-commerce blitz is a clear signal that Jassy cares about India's retail race — but the real money is still bet on cloud and AI.
What else is on Jassy's agenda?
Jassy plans to meet Indian business leaders, entrepreneurs, and Amazon employees.
Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reports he may also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi — though neither Modi's office nor Amazon has commented.
This reflects a visit that goes beyond commercial strategy, carrying the signal of a high-level political dialogue.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.