Business: E-commerce giant Amazon on Wednesday (September 18) announced that Samir Kumar will take over as the new country manager for India, succeeding Manish Tiwary, who had resigned last month. Kumar will continue to lead Amazon’s consumer businesses in the Middle East, South Africa, and Turkey, in addition to his new role in India.

According to an official release, Kumar is working closely with Manish Tiwary on the transition and will assume operational responsibilities for India starting October 1.

Amit Agarwal, Amazon’s SVP for Emerging Markets, today announced in an internal email that Samir Kumar will take on the responsibility to lead India as its Country Manager, in addition to his current charter of leading Amazon’s consumer businesses in the Middle East, South Africa and Turkey.

25-year veteran Samir Kumar to lead India's business 

"Amazon's 25-year veteran Samir Kumar will oversee Amazon's India consumer business as Manish Tiwary, current Country Manager for Amazon India, has decided to explore an opportunity outside Amazon," the company said.

Samir, who joined Amazon in 1999, was a part of the original team that planned and launched Amazon.in in 2013. Kumar currently leads Amazon’s consumer businesses across West Asia, South Africa, and Turkey.

With this leadership change, the current Amazon India’s key executives team, including 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 Agarwal directly, the company said.

'India remains important priority for Amazon'

"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.

Agarwal also expressed appreciation for Tiwary's leadership "in steering Amazon.in to become the de facto starting point for Indians to buy and sell anything online" and wished him the best for future endeavours.