Amazon's profit jumps nine-fold to Rs 5,700 crore

Online giant Amazon's profit in the second quarter surged nine-fold to $857 million (nearly Rs 5,701.4 crore), lifted by cloud services as the tech giant expanded its offerings. 

According to the company's statement, the revenues jumped 31% to $30.4 billion (nearly Rs 2.02 lakh crore). While Amazon developed a reputation for delivering little or no profit in its retail operations, its earnings have been growing over the past year as it expands into video and new delivery services, and boosts its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The strong profit came a year after earnings of $92 million (nearly Rs 612.05 crore) which began a string of improvements for Amazon. Amazon shares rose 1.5% in after-hours trade. The company has also been building loyalty with its Amazon Prime subscription service, which provides access to its online video and music as well as fast delivery for most items.

"It's been a busy few months for Amazon around the world, and particularly in India, where we launched a new AWS region, introduced Prime with unlimited free shipping, and announced that Prime Video is coming soon, offering Prime members in India exclusive access to Amazon Original Series and movies including original content featuring top Indian creators and talent," said Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos.

"Amazon said its second annual 'Prime Day' sale was the biggest day ever for Amazon, and was also a record day for Amazon devices globally, the statement added.