A new year—that magical time when we’re going to become fitness gurus, master chefs, and, of course, voracious readers. But if you’re in India and thinking about finally tackling that mountain of books that have accumulated on your TBR list, hold that thought. Especially if your brilliant plan involved getting a Kindle to avoid being found weeks later buried under an avalanche of paperbacks. Because somehow, Amazon has managed to run out of its own flagship e-reader in India. It’s like McDonald’s running out of burgers, or Instagram running out of filters—it’s left a lot of customers confused on the Internet and Amazon isn’t really telling us what to expect.
If you hop onto Amazon.in looking for a Kindle, you’ll find about as much success as a vegetarian at a steakhouse. The company’s official statement? “We regret that Kindle e-readers are temporarily unavailable. Please keep an eye on our Amazon.in page for any updates regarding availability. Thank you for your understanding.” After a lot of repeated questioning, an Amazon representative also confirmed, on the condition of anonymity, that if you purchase a Kindle outside India, it’ll get software updates, but won’t be covered by the warranty. So if you were thinking about just buying one on your next vacation, this is a bit of bad news.
That doesn’t really answer the questions that a lot of customers in India have been talking about for a year now: Why did this happen? An Amazon insider told The Nod, “New devices are definitely coming, but there are a lot of factors, and I can’t tell you that we’ll definitely have them by a particular date. But it’s going to happen.” Industry insiders (who prefer to remain anonymous because they don’t want to cross Amazon) have some theories:
Theory 1. “It’s the book publishers!” says one insider, suggesting there’s pressure from Indian publishers. This feels quite speculative as many publishers work with Amazon globally and the Kindle is selling around the world. So, no.
Theory 2. The Case of the Yellow Kindle. We talked about the Kobo Libra Colour last year, and Amazon followed with the new Kindle Coloursoft. It launched in October and had a slight...colourful personality quirk. Users reported yellow discoloration leading to a temporary halt in sales. Users started to get replacement units, and although this is just speculation, it could have had an impact on global rollout plans. So, not really.
Theory 3. The more plausible “bureaucracy blues” explanation involves BIS certification. Every new Kindle model needs to go through a ton of paperwork. A Mumbai-based electronics distributor explained this to us, while probably drowning in certification forms. So, probably this.
Unfortunately, even after repeated attempts to contact the company, Amazon’s statement is so vague that we don’t know what the real reason is and when the Kindle will be back.
What’s a bookworm to do?
Keep refreshing Amazon.in, and hope the 2024 model magically appears in 2025.
Get yourself a Kobo Libra Color instead. It’s available right now on Flipkart for under ₹20,000, comes with a stylus (fancy!), and is waterproof—perfect for when you want to read in the rain like you’re in a dramatic music video.
Try the Boox Palma 2—it’s like the Swiss Army knife of e-readers. Want to read Kindle books? Done. Marvel comics? Sure! Watch YouTube in black-and-white? You can, though I’m questioning your life choices if you do. The Boox Palma 2 is around the same size as a phone at 6.3 inches tall, 3.1 inches wide, and just 0.3 inches thick. At 170 grams, it’s light enough to keep in your pocket all day. But what really sets it apart from other e-book readers isn’t its size.
This little device runs on Android and comes with the Google Play Store installed. That means that you can install Android apps to get all your libraries in one place. And you only need to charge the battery once a week, if you read a couple of hours every day. It’s comfortable to read while commuting, and thanks to the backlight, works just as well when you’re lying in bed and want to read without disturbing anyone else—all without the temptation of opening Reddit and doomscrolling.
While Amazon figures out whatever it needs to do to bring Kindles back to India, at least you’ve got options. And hey, maybe by the time they sort this out, you'll have finally made a dent in your TBR list.
