There are 20 million reasons for Jeff Bezos’ likely personal appearance at Amazon’s mega event in India tomorrow

• Amazon is expanding its SMEs outreach and is even organizing a massive two-day event called Amazon Smbhav.
• Interestingly, the event is also taking place when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is reportedly visiting India. It is expected that Bezos will also make an appearance at the event.
• Amazon currently has over 550,000 SMEs, out of which over 50% come from Tier 2 and 3 cities.

India is home to over 20 million small and medium entrepreneurs, who will play a vital role in the country’s new age e-commerce business. Amazon is looking for ways and means to engage them as a part of their next phase of growth.

It is expanding its SMEs outreach programme and organizing a massive two-day event called Amazon Smbhav. It will introduce small business owners to the nuances of technology. It is also bringing on-board industry leaders like Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, Future retail CEO Kishore Biyani, and others as speakers.

According to Goldman Sachs, the SME segment has 20 million people with an annual income of $14,000 each. Not only will their numbers grow to 26 million, their annual incomes will also go up to $23,000 by 2025.

“We have been deliberately focusing on onboarding sellers from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, or bringing in programs like Amazon launchpad. We have also been developing Amazon Global Selling Program through which 50,000 sellers have already clocked more than a billion dollars in exports and we expect them to make $5 billion by 2023,” Gopal Pillai, VP, Seller Services, Amazon India told Business Insider.

Pillai added that through events like Smbhav, Amazon wants SMEs to understand and enjoy the benefits of digital economy.

Interestingly, the event is also taking place as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is reportedly visiting India. It is expected that Bezos will also make an appearance at the event.

However, Pillai refused to comment on the same.

Bezos’ visit and the event also coincide with a rising trader displeasure against e-commerce companies. Reports also say that traders are expected to protest during Bezos’ visit.

Meanwhile, Pillai says that Amazon is focussed on bringing “infinite possibilities” to SMEs by helping them embrace technology. Amazon currently has over 550,000 SMEs, out of which over 50% come from Tier 2 and 3 cities.

“We have been motivated with the government’s aim to make India a $5 trillion economy and that cannot happen without the growth of the SMEs,” said Pillai.

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