News / Amazon set to expand its subcontinent footprint with India Post deal

© Neeraj Charurvedi

Global ecommerce giant Amazon is doubling its efforts to boost its delivery capabilities in India, where demand for online shopping is exploding.

The digital retailer has set up a strategic partnership with India Post, the government’s postal service department.

“By combining Amazon’s customer-centricity and technological prowess with India Post’s vast last-mile delivery network and decades of expertise, the collaboration aims to redefine benchmarks in ecommerce logistics,” said Amazon (India).

“The two will synchronise operations through seamless integration and knowledge exchange to maximise efficiencies, optimise resource utilisation and explore capacity sharing across their logistics networks,” it added.

India Post has already been providing last-mile delivery services for Amazon parcels, but on a limited scale, the network reach growing from six locations to 13 over the past few years.  According to Amazon, this arrangement saw a three-fold jump in ecommerce parcels handled by India Post in the past year or so.

Amazon believes the alliance will drive mutual growth: to ecommerce customers in remote locations of the country; and reinvigorating India’s traditional postal service, which has been marginalised by the courier sector’s faster or express delivery offerings.

“This aligns seamlessly with the government’s vision to modernise and augment India Post’s services and reach using cutting-edge technology and processes,” said Amazon India VP (operations) Abhinav Singh.

The partnership is significant, as India Post has an extensive countrywide network, spanning some 165,000 address codes — arguably the world’s largest distribution network.

According to industry sources, the partnership will help Amazon expand its market share in the country, as areas seeing a shift from brick-and-mortar shopping to ecommerce now extends beyond tier 1 or tier 2 cities, amid rapid growth in consumer spending on discretionary products.

Vandita Kaul, secretary at the government’s postal department, described the alliance as a “significant leap forward” and critical to “bridge the digital divide amid constantly evolving industry dynamics”.

Suneet Gupta, global head of cargo community systems at Mumbai-based Kale Logistics Solutions, believes the Amazon-India Post alliance will boost air cargo trade verticals.

“This collaboration marks a strategic breakthrough, opening access to a vast ecommerce market and democratising its reach across the nation,” Mr Gupta told The Loadstar. “With advanced technology platforms like ACS, this initiative will amplify end-to-end tracking and enhance operational efficiency.”

Amazon recently also inked a strategic deal with Indian Railways for an integrated logistics offering, mirroring a hub-and-spoke model. It said: “The plan covers first- and last-mile requirements, transit times, cost options and policy enablers to boost parcel volumes on railways.”

Indian Railways also has a countrywide network, with its freight infrastructure having seen a massive makeover in recent years.

The opening of a cargo-only dedicated freight corridor (DFC) between North India and west coast ports has enabled logistics providers to offer higher delivery speeds, greater payloads and on-time services.

Amazon sees an opportunity to use DFC rail routes to move customer parcels across India, also powered by its digital capabilities.

The company aims to invest some $15bn in India by 2030, as part of its long-term growth plans, and pushing its decarbonisation programme, Amazon plans to position 10,000 electric vehicles in its India delivery fleet by 2025.

Meanwhile, for the air freight industry, particularly cargo airlines, India’s ecommerce boom remains a key catalyst for capacity expansion.

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