Amazon India's Seller Base Crosses 20 Lakh Ahead of Festive Season

Amazon India said on Tuesday that the number of sellers on its marketplace has crossed the 20-lakh mark, with more than 3 lakh new sellers joining over the past 15 to 18 months in what the company described as its strongest year-on-year growth in seller numbers in three years.

A Broad-Based Seller Community

The company said the expansion spans businesses at every stage, from first-generation entrepreneurs in Tier 3 towns to established brands managing large catalogues of stock-keeping units. The timing, just ahead of India's festive shopping season culminating around Diwali, underscores how e-commerce platforms are racing to widen their seller bases before the year's biggest sales window.

Aruna Daryanani, Director of Selling Partner Services at Amazon India, said the company's focus has been on "lowering fees, building AI-powered tools that simplify day-to-day operations, and providing data-driven insights to help sellers make better decisions." She added that Amazon intends to keep investing in tools, technology and infrastructure as sellers prepare for the festive rush.

Lower Fees and AI Tools Driving Growth

Amazon pointed to several factors behind the acceleration in seller sign-ups. A fee revision earlier this year introduced zero referral fees across more than 125 million products, reducing the cost of entry for small entrepreneurs. At the same time, the company has broadened access to AI-powered capabilities that help sellers with listing creation and optimisation, product discovery, inventory planning, advertising creatives and business insights.

Among these tools, Amazon's Seller Assistant, a round-the-clock conversational AI available in English and Hinglish, has seen usage double roughly every six months, with seller interactions on the tool growing 7.5 times year-on-year. The company also said the share of advertisers using its AI-powered advertising tools grew 77 per cent year-on-year, with small and medium businesses generating 62 per cent more ad creatives using those tools in the first quarter of 2026 compared with a year earlier.

Building Out Festive-Season Support

Beyond digital tools, Amazon said its nationwide fulfilment and delivery network gives sellers multiple options to prepare for the anticipated surge in festive demand. Ahead of the season, the company is running more than 20 Seller Connect and Ads Hive workshops across Indian cities, aimed at helping sellers with catalogue optimisation, inventory planning, fulfilment strategy and advertising as they gear up for the peak shopping period.

Why the Milestone Matters

The seller base expansion comes at a moment when India's e-commerce sector is bracing for intense competition during the festive season, with rival platforms also expected to roll out aggressive seller-acquisition and discounting strategies in the coming weeks. A larger, more diverse seller base gives Amazon a wider catalogue and potentially sharper regional reach, particularly in smaller towns where new entrepreneurs are increasingly turning to online marketplaces as a primary sales channel. For sellers themselves, lower fees and expanding AI tooling could translate into thinner overheads and faster operational decisions during the high-stakes weeks leading into Diwali, when a large share of India's annual online retail volume is transacted.

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