Amazon gears up as GST cuts and festival rush coincide

As the Amazon Great Indian Festival approaches, Amazon India is ramping up its infrastructure and technology investments to handle a surge in demand as the festival coincides with the rollout of GST reforms on September 22. Abhinav Singh, Vice President – Operations, India & Australia, Amazon, said the platform is well-prepared to help sellers comply and pass on the benefits to customers.

“We truly welcome the GST reform. It will make things more accessible,” Singh told Fortune India on the sidelines of the preview event. He added that the company’s focus is now on ensuring “in the right compliant way, we are able to help our sellers make those changes and pass on those benefits just in time.” Singh confirmed that both the technological and physical infrastructure are geared up to support the transition and deliver a smooth shopping experience during one of India’s biggest sales events.

As part of its longstanding commitment to speed, reliability, and safety, Singh says, “Delivery in minutes is a step in the same direction,” framing it as a natural extension of Amazon’s existing focus since its launch in India in 2012. Same-day delivery already covers millions of products, while next-day delivery serves four times as many, Singh said.

To support this, Amazon will further scale its network of micro fulfillment centers, which has started with Bangalore and Delhi, and plans to expand to more cities soon. “It’s not about doing something new,” Singh said. “It’s more investment in the same basic tenets we follow—speed, reliability, and safety.”

Earlier this year, Amazon announced a ₹2,000 crore investment aimed at expanding its fulfillment network. This includes 12 new fulfillment centers, six new sortation centers, and 45 delivery stations scheduled to go live just in time for this festival season. Singh described the cumulative storage capacity of these facilities as equivalent to “100 Olympic-sized swimming pools” or over 43 million cubic feet. Currently, Amazon operates storage space across more than 60 fulfillment centers in 18 states. 

A key driver behind expanding fulfillment centers in tier two and tier three cities is the rising number of Prime members from these regions. Singh said, “As more customers come online and start to trust Amazon, they increasingly become Prime members. Building fulfillment centers close to them is the best way to get fast, reliable deliveries.”

Trucking remains the backbone of deliveries due to its wide reach, followed by rail and air networks, but no specific percentage breakdown was disclosed. Amazon also operates its own fleet of Amazon Air aircraft and partners with commercial airlines and Indian Railways.