Kishore Biyani's loss is now Bezos's treasure
Kishore Biyani's loss has become Jeff Bezos' gain. In 2010, Future Group head Biyani came across a promising young man who was taking care of Amazon's international expansion and tried to hire him to spearhead his company's ecommerce plans.
Today Amit Agarwal, the person Biyani tried to hire, is leading Amazon's charge for market leadership in India.
Biyani met Agarwal multiple times and people familiar with the development told ET that he was ready to offer top money for him. But Agarwal politely declined Biyani's offer. Biyani declined to confirm if he did make an offer to the 40-year-old in the past. "I found him to be a very sharp, technology-driven and vibrant person," said Biyani.
Biyani's ability to pick a winner has been proved yet again with Agarwal, who lives in Bangalore with his wife, daughter and son, successfully scaling up Amazon's India operations in a mere 13 months to cover 28 categories of products.
The company is also targeting $1 billion or Rs 6,000 crore in sales this fiscal, according to multiple people with knowledge of the matter. The company has not said when it will reach this milestone.
This fast scale up was noted by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos when he announced the $2 billion (over Rs12,000 crore) investment into the company.
The company is also targeting $1 billion or Rs 6,000 crore in sales this fiscal, according to multiple people with knowledge of the matter. The company has not said when it will reach this milestone.
This fast scale up was noted by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos when he announced the $2 billion (over Rs12,000 crore) investment into the company.
Bezos said, "India is on track to be our fastest country ever to a billion dollars in gross sales".
Mumbai-born Amit Agarwal, an IIT-Kanpur and Stanford University alumnus, terms this success a team effort. "For Jeff to say that about a business that is just a year old makes the team here very proud and very excited. Our ambition only grows," said Agarwal, vice president and India country head, Amazon.in, who shadowed Bezos and was his technical advisor for about two years between 2007 and 2009.
Mumbai-born Amit Agarwal, an IIT-Kanpur and Stanford University alumnus, terms this success a team effort. "For Jeff to say that about a business that is just a year old makes the team here very proud and very excited. Our ambition only grows," said Agarwal, vice president and India country head, Amazon.in, who shadowed Bezos and was his technical advisor for about two years between 2007 and 2009.
Agarwal, a career Amazonian, joined the firm in 1999 as part of its technology team
It is Agarwal's work ethic that has helped with this success and also helped him climb up the career ladder rapidly, said a person who was a senior executive at Amazon and worked closely with Agarwal over a couple of years.
It is Agarwal's work ethic that has helped with this success and also helped him climb up the career ladder rapidly, said a person who was a senior executive at Amazon and worked closely with Agarwal over a couple of years.
"He is a workaholic and has an eye for detail. He asks probing questions which sometimes does make his subordinates uncomfortable," said the person who requested not to be identified.
The senior executive said Agarwal, however, goes out of his way to ensure his juniors are comfortable. Agarwal built his India team while still at Seattle and his initial interactions with them were over email and video conference.
The senior executive said Agarwal, however, goes out of his way to ensure his juniors are comfortable. Agarwal built his India team while still at Seattle and his initial interactions with them were over email and video conference.
"When he moved mid last year to India he ensured he spent time with those a couple of levels below him, to understand their problems and to explain the company's India strategy," said the person, who quit Amazon last year.
Agarwal, a self-confessed fitness freak, still shuttles between Seattle and Bangalore. He also brought a piece of Seattle back to India in the form of a large, carved wooden desk that has taken pride of place in his office in the World Trade Centre, in the suburb of Yeshwantpur. "I have always said this is just Day 1 of ecommerce in India," he said As the head of seller services, Amit Deshpande plays a key role in getting more sellers on board and helping them sell on Amazon using the tools that have been built by Amazon for its sellers. He looks after products, pricing, policies, sales and account management. Deshpande returned to Amazon after a two and a half year stint at T-Mobile, the US telecom company. An IIT Kanpur graduate, he worked his way up at InfosysBSE -0.75 %, for over 9 years, until he left to study Corporate Strategy at the University of Michigan. Amazon offers marketplace services, fulfillment and customer service for sellers.
Agarwal, a self-confessed fitness freak, still shuttles between Seattle and Bangalore. He also brought a piece of Seattle back to India in the form of a large, carved wooden desk that has taken pride of place in his office in the World Trade Centre, in the suburb of Yeshwantpur. "I have always said this is just Day 1 of ecommerce in India," he said As the head of seller services, Amit Deshpande plays a key role in getting more sellers on board and helping them sell on Amazon using the tools that have been built by Amazon for its sellers. He looks after products, pricing, policies, sales and account management. Deshpande returned to Amazon after a two and a half year stint at T-Mobile, the US telecom company. An IIT Kanpur graduate, he worked his way up at InfosysBSE -0.75 %, for over 9 years, until he left to study Corporate Strategy at the University of Michigan. Amazon offers marketplace services, fulfillment and customer service for sellers.
Partnership man for all seasons
Samir Kumar who joined Amazon in 1999 is the Director of Category Management at Amazon India. Earlier this month, he announced the company's latest exclusive partnership with Philips and Disney to sell a range of products on the Indian portal. With a graduate degree in Electrical Engineering under his belt,Samir started off at Amazon in 2001 and went on to become the director of international expansion. In late 2009, he started shadowing senior vice president of international retail Diego Piacentini before taking up the India assignment. "Those two years of shadowing Diego,laid the foundation and prepared me to take on a much larger responsibility while setting up our India operations and building the team here," said Kumar.
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