MUMBAI: Amazon is building a portfolio of private label brands across categories like accessories, fashion, cookware and furnishings that will deliver higher value for the online retail company as it looks to narrow the gap with rival Flipkart in the Indian online retail market.The company, which is building brands specifically for the local market and also introducing American ones, has launched a range of home and kitchen products, a category where it aims to register a fivefold growth this festive season. Among the toppers in the home and kitchen category is Solimo , a private label owned by an Amazon entity globally and made specifically for India. "Solimo is a brand that has been licensed to a seller in India who sources and procures products and brings them to the market," said Sumit Sahay, director of category management at Amazon India . He declined to name the seller.Amazon offers cookware, casserole sets and home furnishing such as towels under the Solimo brand, some of which have been launched less than a month ago. Amazon's other private labels in India include the recently-launched Symbol, a menswear fashion brand, Amazon Basics, its global private label, which has over 250 items listed like USB cables, headphones, laptop bags and camera accessories.All private labels brands are sold on the Amazon marketplace by Cloudtail , a joint venture between Amazon and Catamaran Ventures (the private investment vehicle of Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy). Cloudtail is the largest seller on Amazon India.In its home market, Amazon has been aggressively expanding its private-label offering to include categories from fashion to baby care and food products, a strategy that experts reckon will replicate in India. "Staples such as wheat flour, sugar, rice are high-volume and highvalue purchases for most customers and if (Amazon) can offer good value there, then private label (in this category) can become very strong," said Arvind Singhal, Chairman and MD of Technopak. "We will see a lot of action in the private label space."Consumables and fashion have been among the top three categories by volume for Amazon this year.Rival Flipkart is also working on a private label strategy, which is expected to be launched later this year. Amazon's strategy to scale up on private labels has been in the works for a while. Amazon Basics which is a global private label in the electronic accessories category has been active on the site for 7-8 months now."The focus on fortifying the private label structure is not limited to the festive season alone," said Sahay.