New Delhi, Feb 2 (IANS): The Indian arm of global e-tailer Amazon has shut down Westland that it had acquired in 2017 and which published a range of popular and literary fiction, food and cooking, spirituality and self-help, biographies, health and wellness, history, general reference and travel books.

"After a thorough review, we have made the difficult decision to no longer operate Westland. We are working closely with the employees, authors, agents, and distribution partners on this transition and we remain committed to innovating for customers in India," Amazon said in a statement.

Founded in 1962, Westland published under three imprints - Westland, Context and Aka. Its authors included Chetan Bhagat, Amish Tripathi, Ashwin Sanghi, Devdutt Pattanaik, Ashok Banker, Rujuta Diwekar, Rashmi Bansal, Harsha Bhogle and Preeti Shenoy.

Since ratings agency Nielsen launched its Bookscan in India which tracks bestselling books across the country, Westland had consistently had a strong presence in the top 50 bestselling books charts.