Amazon India marketplace revenue grows 58% in FY18, loss mounts to nearly $1 bn

Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd, the Indian marketplace arm of US-based online retailer Amazon.com Inc., fell deeper into a loss for the financial year through March 2018 although its revenue rose at a brisk pace.

The company’s standalone net loss widened to Rs 6,287.2 crore for 2017-18 from Rs 4,830.6 crore the year before, according to filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). That translates to around $970 million based on foreign exchange rates at the end of March 2018. Revenue from operations grew 58% to Rs 4,928.4 crore from Rs 3,128.7 crore.

Loss widened as the company continued to splurge in order to compete with Walmart Inc.-owned rival Flipkart. The total expenditure of Amazon’s biggest India arm stood at Rs 11,305 crore in 2017-18, up from Rs 8,087.2 crore the year before. Staff expenses increased to Rs 1,042.1 crore from Rs 781.1 crore.

An email sent to Amazon seeking comment on the financial performance did not immediately receive a response.

A few days ago, Flipkart’s marketplace arm reported a narrower loss for 2017-18. The consolidated net loss of Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd, which operates the marketplace, narrowed to Rs 1,160.6 crore from Rs 1,640.2 crore for 2016-17.

The standalone net loss of Flipkart India Pvt. Ltd, the trading arm of the e-commerce company, grew eight-fold to Rs 2,064.8 crore from Rs 244.7 crore as costs jumped.

Another Amazon unit has also posted heavier losses for the last fiscal year. Amazon Pay (India) Pvt. Ltd, the digital payments arm, reported operating revenue of Rs 389.1 crore for 2017-18, up from Rs 4.1 crore the year before. But its net loss expanded to Rs 334.2 crore from Rs 177.9 crore.