Amazon is set to launch its Prime Instant Video service in India this year as part of a US$5 million investment in its Indian e-commerce and subscription-based business, according to local reports.
The investment would see an increase in Amazon's online content, as well as an expansion of warehouses and data centres in India, The Economic Times reports.
The US company has employed former Sony Entertainment executive Nitesh Kripalani to lead its online video and music business in India.
The battle for subscribers to online video-on-demand (VOD) services in India looks set to intensify, with Netflix reportedly set to launch in 2016. While the country's connection speeds remain an issue, India's Internet market retains appeal and could rise to a value of $137 million by 2020, according to Morgan Stanley.
KPMG predicts that India will be home to 640 million Internet users by 2019 – many of these connected via smartphone. India's total mobile subscriber base is currently at about 970 million, according to recent figures from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), trailing only China, which has 1.27 billion mobile users.
In July 2014, Amazon India officially announced it would invest an additional $2 billion in India to expand and "enhance the customer seller experience", taking on e-commerce rivals Flipkart, Snapdeal and PayTM.
Amazon's Indian division has been operational for two years and is now worth $2 billion in gross merchandise on the e-commerce side, says The Economic Times.
