Amazon's (AMZN -2.56%) India unit will no longer sell non-essential goods on its platform as the country goes into complete lockdown starting March 25, 2020, according to a Reuters report.
The tech giant will instead focus on prioritizing and supplying the most essential products to the Indian populace. India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown yesterday, to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amazon has followed the same policy in coronavirus impacted countries such as France and Italy, said Reuters.
Image source: GETTY Images.
Amazon's blog detailed, "A large number of districts/states are taking precautionary measures with extensive lockdowns and restricted movement of goods and people. At the same time, we are seeing an increased demand for priority products and important services."
It added, "To serve our customers' most urgent needs while also ensuring safety of our employees, we are temporarily prioritizing our available fulfillment and logistics capacity to serve products that are currently critical for our customers."
High-priority products include household staples, healthcare, hygiene, and personal safety items.
India has a population of over 1.3 billion people and is a huge market for Amazon. Currently, the number of people who order online is minuscule compared to the overall population, but this figure is bound to grow rapidly with a rise in internet penetration and as COVID-19 keeps citizens indoors.
