Amazon to start using drones for delivery in India by Diwali

Don’t get confused if you see drones flying over your house at Diwali. Why? Because Amazon India is planning to launch its Air Drone service by the festive season. The retailer is expected to debut its drone delivery service in Mumbai and Bangalore first where it has its warehouses. 

Amazon showcased its Prime Air drone last year in December and now the company appears to be keen on making headway. 

Amazon's Prime Air is an octocopter, a drone fitted with eight rotors. Amazon also added that it is developing vehicles that weigh less than 25 kg and travel at over 80 kmph. The company stated that the drone could carry packages upto 2.26 kg, which covers 86% of products sold on Amazon. 

"It could be as early as Diwali," said one of the sources. Amazon said in a statement that it does "not comment on what we may or may not do in the future”. 

Seattle-based e-commerce giant, is challenging Flipkart for leadership of India's online retail market, which is estimated by Crisil to be worth Rs 50,000 crore by 2016. If Amazon uses drones to deliver even one package, it will be a huge publicity coup for the US-based firm, helping it upstage Flipkart just when sales will spike because of the festival season. 

Source: ET