Amazon takes India models across world

NEW DELHI: Amazon may not have been the quickest of the block in rolling out 10-minute delivery in India, but it is taking the model to serve its customers in other parts of the world.

"We have launched Amazon Now in UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. We have launched it in Mexico and the US. Two cities in the US can now experience 30-minute delivery. It is a slightly different construct, but it is still, for that geography, very fast. That is an example of business and consumer innovation and lessons we are learning here. The formula that is working here, we are taking that and applying it everywhere else," said Udit Madan, a senior vice president of global operations at Amazon, who works with hundreds and thousands of employees (direct and indirect) and an army of over a million robots.


The 38-year-old Madan, who did his senior schooling in Delhi, said other local innovations that have been taken global from India, include cash-on-delivery, Amazon Hub Points programme where it ties up with local kirana store for dropping packages. "What we found was that the idea sparked in India, but then a team in Spain found that in rural parts of Spain you had the exact same need: A lot of variability and a lot of businesses that were idle during middle portion of the day... We have seen the exact same formula work in many parts of the US. So, now this programme that started in India, that serves customers in Mumbai, is exactly the same programme that serves customers in downtown Manhattan in New York."

While acknowledging that some of the Indian startups in quick commerce were "quick innovators", Madan said Amazon meets all product delivery needs and has been building its own network to support the mix.

He also said that supply chains are seeing more automation and robotics, but it is not going to lead to a fall in overall employment. "Even in markets with heavy automation, like the US, we have tripled or quadrupled jobs, while using robots to handle repetitive tasks. People do more complex, value-added activities, while automation supports efficiency," he said, adding that there will be more skilled jobs created.

"You just heard Amit (Amit Agarwal, senior V-P for emerging markets) make the announcement today that we support 2.8 million jobs (in India) today and we are going to support 3.8 million jobs. We would not have made that sort of commitment if we did not believe that, despite whatever innovation is happening and despite what AI does... it is actually going to create more opportunity, not less," said the Delhi Public School alumnus.

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