Amazon has signed a deal to acquire publishing business Westland Ltd. The e-commerce company announced on Friday that the move to take over the Trent Ltd subsidiary will allow it "to innovate on behalf of customers in India", while enabling Westland's authors "to grow their physical and digital book businesses" both in India and globally. The companies did not disclose the sum of money involved in the agreement.

Vice President and Country Manager at Amazon India Amit Agarwal said, "Our acquisition of Westland continues our commitment to India – enabling Amazon to bring Westland's highly talented authors and their books to even more customers in India and around the world." The e-commerce major had invested in Westland earlier this year.

Westland's CEO Gautam Padmanabhan said Amazon's "roots are in books" and that his publishing house was "excited" to work with the company. "This is a great day for our authors and their readers across the globe," he added.