Bengaluru: Amazon ’s fully-owned retailing subsidiary in India is on an expansion spree. Amazon Retail India, which is already present in over 100 cities, plans to increase its presence in approximately 60 tier 2-3 cities, according to an Economic Times report .

For this purpose, Amazon is in the process of setting up several delivery centres for its hub-and-spoke model. This comes almost two years after the government gave a nod for the firm to locally source items.

Earlier this month the retail giant had infused ₹240 crore into Amazon Retail India, according to its regulatory filings, signalling an increased focus on the grocery arm. Amazon Retail India forms the giant’s Amazon Pantry and Prime Now services that deliver groceries and other household products.

Interestingly, when the government had updated the foreign direct investment rules in marketplaces in December, reports had come out that Amazon will stop selling food products in India. However, the government later clarified that the companies with FDI in food retail will not be impacted. This led to Amazon resuming its food operations.

Grocery is an important category for all e-commerce players in the country as it is a high-frequency. Competitor Flipkart launched its grocery vertical last year and has been slowly building it up.

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