Amazon has appointed Samir Kumar, who has been with the company for 25 years, as India’s new head of consumer operations amid increasing competition in the country’s ecommerce sector.

During Kumar’s time there, he oversaw consumer operations in regions such as the Middle East, South Africa, and Turkey.

This comes as Amazon is facing significant challenges in India’s smaller cities and towns despite investing over US$7 billion in the world’s most populous nation.

Local competitors, including Flipkart and Meesho, have strengthened their market presence. According to Morgan Stanley, Meesho recently surpassed Amazon in monthly active users on mobile applications. Additionally, Bank of America analysts report that Flipkart has over 50 million daily active users, while Amazon has less than 40 million users in India.