Amazon to shut down food delivery arm in India

Amazon will be shuttering its food delivery business in India on December 29, according to an email sent to its vendors and partners.

The tech giant officially entered the $20 billion Indian food delivery business in May 2020, and quickly expanded across Bengaluru. The food delivery business in India is currently dominated by Zomato, followed by Swiggy, a company backed by SoftBank, Prosus Ventures and Invesco.

“We don’t take these decisions lightly. We are discontinuing these programs in a phased manner to take care of current customers and partners and we are supporting our affected employees during this transition. Amazon remains focused on providing our growing customer base the best online shopping experience with the largest selection of products at great value and convenience,” Amazon said in a statement.

Before shutting down, Amazon Food had onboarded about 3,000 restaurant partners including quick-service restaurant brands such as McDonald’s and Domino's Pizza. Amazon’s 2021 gross merchandise value in the country stood between $18 billion to $20 billion, lagging Flipkart’s $23 billion, according to Sanford C. Bernstein.

This announcement follows Amazon's recent decision to close down its edtech service Academy in India by next year, and it's part of the company's broader restructuring in India.