MUMBAI: With an introductory price of Rs 499 for a year, Amazon Prime is now available in India to give users same day or next day delivery on orders and 30 minute early access to lightning deals. After the inaugural pricing period, a Prime subscription will cost Rs 999 a year.

Items eligible for Prime benefits are marked on the website with the Prime logo next to it. Alternatively, users can choose the Prime logo filter to view the items available on Prime.

The company has announced that Amazon Prime Video will be coming in later but it has not given a timeline. Prime Video will have access to Amazon Original Series, movies and TV shows from India and around the world.

In the U.S., Amazon Prime offers over 40,000 movies and TV shows, a million songs and 500,000 free ebooks for $99 per year. It has begun talks with Bollywood producers and independent production houses for building video content from India. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that $300 mn (approx Rs 2,000 cr) will be invested in its India unit.

Overall, it’s a great news for Indian entertainment industry, as such heavy funding will surely bring out the top talent and potential superstars.

With this, Amazon’s total investment commitment in India goes up to $5 bn; the $3 billion announced now, plus the $2 billion investment announced back in July 2014, which the company has already completed in phases over the past two years.