After Amazon, on Wednesday announced its plans to invest over $35 billion in India by 2030, Samir Kumar, Amazon India country manager spoke to Yaruqhullah Khan & Rishi Raj on the company’s future trajectory in the country. He said that fears over job losses from AI are misplaced, as technology has historically expanded employment. He said the same principle applies to quick commerce, which is just an extension of e-commerce rather than any risky bubble. Excerpts:
Q. There’s concern that AI adoption at Amazon will trigger job losses. Should people worry?
A. History shows the opposite. When ATMs were introduced, there were predictions that bank tellers would disappear. In reality, banks ended up hiring more staff. Technology changes how work gets done, but it also creates new tasks and new types of roles. I see AI expanding the scope of what people can do rather than replacing them.
Q. Do you expect your own workforce to grow or shrink?
A. I can’t predict exact numbers. Automation will increase productivity, but I also expect growth in creative and human-centric roles. Human skills will be deployed in new ways as technology evolves.
Q. Some have warned of a quick-commerce bubble. Your views?
A. I can’t comment on other people’s views, but we don’t treat e-commerce and quick commerce as separate. They are simply different shopping speeds within one online store. A customer may place an order manually or an AI agent may reorder automatically when something runs low. Delivery times may vary from minutes to an hour depending on where the item sits in our network. Our model is inventory-light because sellers stock our micro fulfillment centres; Amazon doesn’t sell directly except for fresh produce. Customers clearly love quick commerce. When a product has customer love and scale, our responsibility is to make the model sustainable. That’s why I am optimistic.
Q. How does this optimism shape your plan for Amazon Now and the profitability of quick commerce?
A. Quick commerce is a core part of our stores business. It currently offers 10,000 to 30,000 items delivered in minutes across Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi NCR. We are adding two dark stores every day and expect to reach 300 by year-end. But quick commerce sits alongside our two-hour delivery service, which provides 70,000 to 100,000 items, and our nationwide same-day, next-day and two-day delivery network covering millions of products. Together, they form our full e-commerce offering. As Prime expands deeper into tier two and tier three cities, adoption continues to grow.
Q. What will be Amazon’s USP in quick commerce beyond speed?
A. Service quality, safety and supply-chain innovation. Our global formula remains price, selection and convenience.
Q. Are you targeting a specific market share in quick commerce?
A. We want to be the market leader.
Q. You have announced a cumulative $35 billion India investment till 2030. How will this be deployed across your businesses including quick commerce?
A. The $35 billion includes AWS investments in Maharashtra and Telangana and our annual capex. The new investments focus on AI-driven digitisation, exports and job creation. We plan to create 1 million additional direct and indirect jobs, taking the total to 3.8 million by 2030. We want to boost cumulative exports to $80 billion, deliver AI benefits to 15 million small businesses and hundreds of millions of shoppers, and offer AI education to 4 million government school students. Quick commerce is part of this plan through expanded dark stores and strengthened technology infrastructure.
Q. What’s your outlook on the growth potential of e-commerce?
A. India will continue adding millions of Internet users. As GDP per capita rises, consumer demand for convenience and broader selection will grow. Our differentiated offering positions us well for large-scale expansion.
Q. Tier two and tier three cities now drive 65% of your orders. What challenges remain?
A. Delivery improves when fulfillment centres are closer to customers. We announced 17 new centres in cities like Vizag, Bhubaneswar and Thiruvananthapuram. During the last festive season, our delivery times were nearly two days faster than our closest competitor, and two to three days better than last year in many regions. More centres and more local sellers translate into faster delivery and broader selection.