On Wednesday, Tata's durables retailer Croma worked out a partnership with the world's leading online retailer Amazon, with the result that the Amazon's Kindle e-reader will now be available in India for Rs 6,999 (approximately $126).

The Kindle model which will be sold in India will be the entry-level, non-touch-screen Kindle e-reader, which costs $79 in the US in a "Special Offers" ad-supported version. The Kindle to be sold in India will not be an ad-supported version.

Croma's partnership with Amazon will pave the way for the availability of the Kindle e-reader to consumers all across India, not only through its retail outlets, but also via its online platform cromaretail. com.

The Amazon-Croma partnership involves the expansion of Amazon's Kindle Store, and gives Croma the chance to sell the Kindle hardware in India. The new India Kindle store - which will allow customers to purchase e-books by making payments in rupees - will feature more than 1 million books, including 70 out of the 100 Nielsen Bestsellers.

In fact, in addition to the Nielsen Bestsellers, the Amazon Kindle Store will also sell books of Indian authors, including Chetan Bhagat, Ashwin Sanghi, Amish Tripathi, Ravinder Singh, and a number of other writers. Moreover, Amazon has also launched Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for independent authors and publishers in the country.

About bringing the Kindle to India through Croma, Russ Grandinetti - Amazon's vice-president for Kindle Content - said: "We are excited to work with Croma to make Kindle available at retail outlets across the country."