Amazon.com has named 25-year veteran Samir Kumar as its new India head, replacing Manish Tiwary who stepped down after an eight-year stint last month.
Kumar, who was part of the team that launched Amazon India in 2013, will take over from Tiwary on Oct. 1 in addition to his current role of heading Amazon's consumer businesses in the Middle East, South Africa and Turkey.
Amazon had previously said Tiwary had resigned to pursue an opportunity outside the company, without elaborating.
Rapid Expansion
The change in leadership comes as Amazon is fast expanding in India where it plans to invest $26 billion (€23.38 billion) by 2030, but also faces a strict regulatory environment that forces it to run only a marketplace.
"India remains an important priority for Amazon, and I am super excited about the opportunity ahead," Amit Agarwal, senior vice president for emerging markets at Amazon, said.
Five Days A Week
Elsewhere, earlier this week, Amazon said that it will require employees to return to working at company offices five days per week beginning next year, toughening a prior three-day mandate.
The change is necessary to "invent, collaborate and be connected" wrote CEO Andy Jassy in a letter to employees on Monday, which was posted to Amazon's website. He said the experience of a three-day mandate "strengthened our conviction about the benefits" of in-office work.
Amazon has taken a tougher stance than many of its rivals as COVID-19 has become less of a daily threat. Employees have described to Reuters how Amazon has required them to report to, in some cases, distant offices or move to Seattle to keep their jobs.
And some employees who were consistently out of compliance with the existing three-day mandate were told they were "voluntarily resigning," and were locked out of Amazon's systems.
