Manish Tiwary, the head of Amazon’s India operations, is leaving the firm as the U.S. e-commerce giant grapples with mounting pressure from competitors in one of its crucial international markets.
Tiwary, who took over as country manager in late 2020, is departing as Amazon has noticeably shifted its focus on cloud business in India and shuttered several other initiatives, including its food delivery venture.
Amazon, which has poured over $7 billion in India, has faced 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, Zepto and Swiggy that 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.
“Manish Tiwary, Country Manager for Amazon India, has decided to pursue an opportunity outside of the company. Manish’s leadership over the last eight years has been instrumental in delivering for customers and sellers, making Amazon.in the preferred marketplace in India. Manish will continue with Amazon until October to help ensure a smooth transition,” an Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch in a statement.
“India is an important priority for Amazon. 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. Amit Agarwal, SVP India and Emerging Markets, will remain closely involved with the Amazon.in team, guiding its strong bench of leaders to deliver on this opportunity.”
This is a developing story. More to follow.
