NEW DELHI: Amazon.com Inc’s Asia unit will provide back-end support in a venture with an Indian private investment firm formed by Infosys Ltd co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy that aims to help get Indian companies online.

Catamaran Ventures’s partnership with Amazon Asia will target small- and medium-sized firms, Arjun Ramegowda Narayanswamy, who heads the private investment company, said in an email to Reuters on Friday.

Access to mobile devices and better-quality broadband has boosted India’s online shopping scene, where Amazon is jostling with home-grown companies like Flipkart and Snapdeal for market share.

An official from Amazon’s India unit, who did not want to be identified as details of the deal are not public, told Reuters Amazon will support the venture with logistics and technology know-how. He declined to give details.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2014