New Delhi, Feb 18: E-commerce major Amazon.in today said it has crossed the 3-lakh seller base in less than five years of the company s operations in India.

Of this, one lakh new merchants were on-boarded in seven months.

Amazon, which is locked in an intense battle with homegrown rival Flipkart, has been aggressively ramping up its operations in the country. It has pumped in billions of dollars to strengthen its seller and customer base as well as towards building infrastructure.

Amazon India Director and GM, Seller Services Gopal Pillai told PTI that the “steep increase” in the seller base was attributable to various India-first innovations that have encouraged seller participation across the country, especially from tier II and III cities.

In the last one year, Amazon.in has expanded its network of third-party affiliates and service providers to ensure that sellers from non-metros and smaller towns get easy access and required support to start and manage their online business, he added.

Besides, the company has tied-up with various government bodies to empower local artisans, weavers and craftsmen across the country to embrace online selling and expand their business.

Amazon has always believed in working seller backwards and have been constantly innovating to address challenges that are unique to Indian sellers, Pillai said.

“Through India-first innovations like Easy Ship and Seller Flex, along with our gold standard offering- FBA, to building online capabilities through SPN and growing the ecosystem along, we have been laser focused in our vision of transforming the way India buys and sells,” he said.

In a recent investor call, Amazon Senior VP and CFO Brian Olsavsky had said India continues to be a “good story” for the US e-tailing giant even as its losses from its international operations widened to USD 919 million for the December quarter.

Amazon has pumped in billions of dollars into its Indian operations. One of its India units, Amazon Seller Services, alone has received over Rs 8,000 crore (about USD 1.28 billion) during financial year 2017-18 from the US parent, as per documents filed with the India’s corporate affairs ministry.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has committed investments of USD 5 billion for the Indian market. Investments have also been made in other Amazon entities in India, including Amazon Pay and its wholesale business here.

  Amazon, business