Samir Kumar to replace Manish Tiwary as head of India operations for Amazon

Amazon has elevated Samir Kumar as the country manager for India. The e-commerce major said in a note that this is an additional responsibility for Kumar who will continue to lead Amazon's consumer businesses in the Middle East, South Africa and Turkey.

The move comes after Manish Tiwary abruptly resigned as the country head for India on August 6. Tiwary, who has been at the helm of India operations since July 2020, is moving on after spending over eight years at the company.

Samir Kumar will now oversee India operations together with Amit Agarwal, senior vice president (SVP) for emerging markets at Amazon.

Agarwal, who joined Amazon in 1999, was part of founder Jeff Bezos' famed S team (senior leadership team), who was tasked with building Amazon’s operations in India, during its early days in 2013.

"India remains an important priority for Amazon, and I am super excited about the opportunity ahead as we continue to transform lives and livelihoods. We have a strong local leadership bench and, along with Samir’s experiences across Emerging Markets, I am even more optimistic about our future plans to deliver for customers and the business in India," Agarwal said in the note.

"...the current Amazon.in leadership team of Saurabh Srivastava (Categories), Harsh Goyal (Everyday Essentials), Amit Nanda (Marketplace), and Aastha Jain (Growth Initiatives) will now report to Samir. Kishore Thota (Emerging Markets Shopping Experience) will report to Amit directly," the note added.