Samir Kumar: Amazon's Trusted Hand Who Will Lead India Operations
This is Kumar's second stint in India, as he was part of the core team which launched the online retailer's India operations in 2013.
Amazon India announced that Samir Kumar, its vice president for international consumer business, will take over as country manager for India, as outgoing Manish Tiwary will relinquish his position this month.
This is Kumar's second stint in India, as he was part of the core team which launched the online retailer's India operations in 2013. Kumar went back to his domicile in Seattle, Washington in 2016.
The new country head will work closely with Tiwary on the transition, and will assume operational responsibilities for India starting Oct. 1, Amazon India said in a statement on its website. The announcement was made through a company wide memo by Amit Agarwal, Amazon's SVP for emerging markets.
With this change, the current domestic leadership team of Saurabh Srivastava (categories), Harsh Goyal (everyday essentials), Amit Nanda (marketplace), and Aastha Jain (growth initiatives) will now report to Kumar, Amazon India said in its statement. Kishore Thota (emerging markets shopping experience) will report to Agarwal, the statement said.
An Amazon veteran, Kumar started working at the world's largest online retailer in 1999, as a systems engineer. Over years, he has worked at multiple levels, including vice president, category management in India and technical advisor for international retail in Seattle. He has also worked in the teams which launched Amazon in Saudi and Sweden, in 2020.
An engineering graduate from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Kumar moved to the Utah State University for a Masters in electrical engineering in 1995.
In an article in The Economic Times in May 2014, detailing Kumar's best career decisions, it was reported that he wanted to quit his job and pursue an MBA in finance in 2005. On the advice of his boss at the time, Kumar decided to move to Amazon's finance team and learn the subject on the job. This proved to be a major boost for his career as he learned everything about reading balance sheets and managing cost centres, while serving in the finance team for two years, the article stated.
In his new role, Kumar will be expected to lead the e-commerce giant's large India presence. The transition will happen as India enters its three-month long festive season period starting October. Typically, this period is seen as a major sales driver for all retailers in India.
