New Delhi, Jan. 26 -- Amazon is inviting its Indian sellers to set up independent online storefronts, a move that appears to undermine its dominant marketplace in favour of becoming the backbone of the country's growing direct-to-consumer economy.

The plan, called SmartBiz, allows sellers to create websites without coding for free while using Amazon's logistics and payment systems for their sales. The move comes as India's e-commerce landscape breaks up, with brands avoiding centralized marketplaces to sell through social media and their own websites.

While the strategy risks reducing Amazon's high-margin ad and commission revenue, estimated at over Rs.25,000 crore in India, the tech giant is betting that sellers will become dependent o...