Amazon omits India from its Q1 2023 earnings call amid service shutdowns

Amazon’s Q1 2023 earnings call and release on Thursday made no mention of India, marking a notable departure from the company’s consistent focus on the South Asian market’s rapid growth and bullish outlook.

This is the first time since early 2014 that India was not mentioned in Amazon’s quarterly earnings call, sparking speculation about whether the e-commerce giant is scaling back operations in India amid global restructuring.

Amazon posted a promising result in Q4 2022 but marked the slowest year of growth in 2022

Amazon posted better-than-expected revenue growth in its issued first-quarter guidance for the fourth quarter of 2022 on Thursday but was still its least profitable Q4 ever. Net sales increased 9% to $149.2 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $137.4 billion in Q4 2021 to beat the $145.

TechloyEmmanuel Oyedeji

This development comes after Amazon’s closure of several services in India, including food delivery and wholesale distribution, which has left analysts wondering about the company’s strategy in India.

Despite having invested over $7 billion in the country over the past decade, Amazon lags behind Walmart-backed Flipkart and is struggling to penetrate smaller Indian cities and towns, according to a report by Sanford C. Bernstein.

In contrast, Walmart has been doubling down on India and has invested close to $2.5 billion in the country this year alone.