Amazon is shutting down its wholesale distribution enterprise in India, the most recent in a sequence of retreats for the retailer in the important thing abroad market the place it has deployed over $7 billion previously decade.

The American e-commerce large mentioned Monday that it’s discontinuing Amazon Distribution, its wholesale e-commerce web site accessible in small neighborhood shops in Bengaluru, Mysore and Hubli.

“We don’t take these decisions lightly. We are discontinuing this programme in a phased manner to take care of current customers and partners,” an organization spokesperson mentioned in a press release.

Amazon Distribution was designed to assist kiranas, the neighborhood shops in India, pharmacies and department shops safe stock from the e-commerce large.

“We offer a wide range of products at competitive prices and the convenience of next day delivery at your door-step. As a member, you can purchase thousands of items for resale at any time of the day at competitive prices and in bulk quantities, pay via the various payment options available, get GST bill for your order, and convenient and reliable door-step deliveries the next day,” the corporate describes on Amazon Distribution web site.

Amazon didn’t say why it was shutting down the wholesale distribution providing, however the transfer follows firm shutting two different companies — food delivery and online learning platform Academy — within the nation amid a world restructuring of its enterprise.

The sequence of bulletins have nonetheless prompted many to invest that Amazon, which has deployed over $6.5 billion in its native enterprise within the nation, is slowly cutting down its operations within the South Asian market. The agency has seen a number of of its senior executives depart in recent months.

India is a key abroad marketplace for Amazon. But the corporate is lagging Walmart’s Flipkart and struggling to make inroads in smaller Indian cities and cities, in line with a latest report by Sanford C. Bernstein. Amazon’s 2021 gross merchandise worth within the nation stood between $18 billion to $20 billion, lagging Flipkart’s $23 billion, the analysts mentioned in a report back to shoppers.

Amazon additionally faces competitors from billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail, which launched grocery shopping on WhatsApp, and social commerce startups SoftBank-backed Meesho and Tiger Global-backed DealShare. It has thus far supplied “a weaker proposition in ‘new’ commerce” within the nation, the report added.

At stake is among the world’s final nice progress markets. The e-commerce spending in India, the world’s second largest web market, is anticipated to double in measurement to over $130 billion by 2025. Amazon has been trying to extend its presence in India via stakes in native companies and has additionally aggressively explored partnerships with neighborhood stores.

The firm tried to amass Future Retail, India’s second largest retail chain, however was outwitted by Ambani’s firm. (Amazon accused the estranged Indian companion and Reliance of fraud in newspaper ads.)

Amazon didn’t instantly say if it plans to shut every other enterprise line within the nation.