Online retail giant Amazon will soon double the price of its subscription service Prime in India. The Prime service was launched last year in July at an introductory price of Rs 499. The company will now charge Rs 999 for its Prime service. Amazon India in an emailed statement to PTI said: "Prime membership is available for only a few more days at the special introductory price of Rs 499 a year. After which well move to the strikethrough price of Rs 999."

While launching the Prime service in the country, Amazon India Vice-President Amit Agarwal had said: "With Prime, guaranteed one-day delivery becomes an everyday experience instead of an occasional indulgence, and with no minimum purchases, it provides unlimited convenience all year long."

Under Prime service, the subscribers get various benefits such as faster delivery, first preference during sale events and access to Prime Video, Amazon's movies. For Prime service subscribers, one-day and two-day delivery is free compared to non-Prime members who are charged Rs 100 for one-day delivery and Rs 80 for two-day delivery.

Akshay Sahi who is heading Amazon Prime service in India talked to the TOI and said that the pricing will not have affect the purchase of the subscription service. "We started with about 1.3 million products eligible for Prime shipments and that has been scaled up to over 11 million products now. We are going to come up with price updates for Prime and we will continue to make Prime even more attractive," the TOI quoted Sahi as saying.

According to the report, Prime subscribers typically buy more than non-Prime users. "One out of three orders placed on its platform is from Prime subscribers and their purchasing power sees an uptick during festive seasons and major sale events," the report added.