Amazon scales Amazon Now, plans 'Delivery in Minutes' rollout in 300+ cities across India

E-commerce giant Amazon on Wednesday (June 24) announced plans to expand Amazon Now, its ultra-fast delivery service, to customers in more than 300 cities across India as it aims to build the country’s largest delivery-in-minutes network.

The company said Amazon Now has become the fastest-growing ecommerce business unit in Amazon India’s history, with orders doubling every quarter since its launch.

To support the expansion, Amazon will scale up its specialised fulfilment infrastructure and broaden product availability across delivery timelines. The platform currently offers tens of thousands of products that can be delivered within minutes or a few hours.

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Amazon said customers can also access a wider selection of more than one million products with same-day delivery, over four million products with next-day delivery, and millions more through unlimited, free and fast Prime Delivery.

Alongside the expansion, Amazon introduced ‘Sammaan’, a dedicated program focused on the welfare of tens of thousands of delivery associates supporting its e-commerce and quick commerce operations. The initiative will be funded in part through Amazon India’s recently announced $300 million investment in operations and associate well-being.

Under the Sammaan program, Amazon will provide education scholarships for the children of delivery associates, upgraded health and life insurance benefits, and expand its Ashray rest centre network to 250 centres this year.

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The company said the program is aimed at strengthening support for delivery associates as it expands its e-commerce and quick commerce network across the country.

Samir Kumar, Country Manager, Amazon India, said, "Amazon Now is the fastest-growing ecommerce business unit in Amazon India’s history, with orders having doubled every quarter since launch. We are seeing a great response from customers, especially Prime members who triple their shopping frequency once they start using Amazon Now.

We have further accelerated our expansion and will offer ultra-fast deliveries to customers in over 300 cities in India. None of this is possible without our delivery associates, who are at the heart of our e-commerce and quick commerce business, and I am excited as we launch ‘Sammaan’, a dedicated program focused on delivery associate welfare."

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Amazon Now is already available to over 50 million customers in more than 15 metro and non-metro cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Amritsar and Kochi, among others.

Amazon plans to scale up its network of micro fulfilment centres and urban fulfilment centres to house an expanded selection of daily essentials ranging from groceries (including fruits & vegetables and frozen food), personal care, fashion & beauty products, to small appliances, home & kitchen products and more, all delivered within minutes.