Amidst the month-long festive sale, Amazon India has now announced that it is increasing the price of its Prime membership subscription plans by up to 50 percent in India. As a result, the monthly, quarterly, and annual prices of the Amazon Prime service will increase by up to Rs. 500 in the country. Although the e-commerce giant did not provide an exact timeline for the change, the company confirmed that the updated prices will come into effect “very soon.”
Since Amazon Prime’s initial launch in India back in 2016, Amazon has increased the price of the annual Prime membership from Rs. 499 (introductory offer) to Rs. 999. Now, the company has announced to hike the prices of the monthly, quarterly, and annual plans of its Prime subscription to Rs. 179, Rs. 459, and Rs. 1,499 respectively. The company has updated its support page to showcase the new prices. It has also started informing Prime members about the change via its shopping platform.
For reference, prior to the change, the monthly, quarterly, and annual subscription prices of Amazon Prime were Rs. 129, Rs. 329, and Rs. 999 respectively. So, the price of the annual plan has been increased by Rs 500, which is around 50 percent of the current price. However, the change in the monthly and the quarterly plans are not that significant.
Explaining the price hike, Amazon said, “Since the launch 5 years ago in IN, Prime has continued to increase the value it offers members. Prime provides an unparalleled combination of shopping, savings, and entertainment benefits to make life more convenient and entertaining every single day, and we continue to invest in making Prime even more valuable for customers.”
Now, existing Prime members who are currently enjoying the service at the existing prices will be able to continue their membership till their current plan ends. However, following the termination of the current plan, they will need to pay the new Rs. 1,499 annual price to renew their membership.
The price change will also affect Prime Youth members aged between 18-24. You can check out Amazon’s official terms and conditions page for the Youth offer to know more about how the price change will affect these members. Other than these, customers who got their Prime membership as part of the telecom plan will also feel the brunt of the price hike. So, Amazon urges those customers to contact their telecom partners after the price change.
