Amazon to launch Kindle range in India

Amazon is looking at kindling some demand for its high-resolution e-book readers in the Indian market which it sees as promising for what it calls “electronic paper”.

On Thursday, the company which forayed into India last month, announced that its best-selling e-readers Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite will be available for sale on its Indian website starting June 27.

“Indian customers are passionate about books and reading,” said Amit Agarwal, vice-president and country manager for Amazon India. “We’re also excited to make the Kindle Store available on Amazon.in.”

The fifth generation Kindle, the smallest and lightest of the series, will be available on Amazon.in starting today at a suggested price of only ₹5,999, the company said. The Kindle Paperwhite in both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi plus 3G models will come with a high-resulution HD display 62 per cent more pixels and 25 per cent increased contrast compared to the previous generation Kindle, the company said.

It claims to have a battery life of upto eight weeks  The Papershite will be available for purchase starting June 27 on Amazon.in at a retail price of ₹10,999 for Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi and ₹13,999 for the Kindle Paperwhite 3G version.

Amazon also announced that Kindle Fire HD will be available on Amazon.in starting June 27.

The Kindle range will also be available at over one hundred retail outlets including Croma, Reliance Digital, E-Zone and Vijay Sales in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Pune.

The India Kindle Store now offers over 1.7 million books priced in Indian rupees.