AMAZON FULFILMENT CENTRES SEE 40% GROWTH IN INDIA

Will be spread across 10 mn sq ft

E-commerce giant Amazon India announced plans to expand its fulfillment network in India, with a near 40 per cent increase in its storage capacity. With this, Amazon.in will have more than 43 million cubic feet of storage capacity across 15 states, supporting around 850,000 sellers.

Amazon India’s overall fulfilment network will be spread across a floor area of more than 10 million square feet, which is bigger than 125 football fields, housing millions of products from notebooks to dishwashers.

“The rapid expansion of our fulfilment network accelerates on our commitment to serve and empower small and medium businesses in India and customers,” said Akhil Saxena, vice-president, customer fulfilment operations, APAC, MENA and LATAM, Amazon.

Saxena said this expansion will also provide a fillip to the ancillary businesses that support Amazon like packaging, logistics, and transportation.

The expansion would help Amazon take on competitors including Walmart-owned Flipkart, Mukesh Ambaniowned Reliance Jiomart, and Tata Digital, which are also rapidly scaling up operations.

Tata recently made a foray into the area by acquiring a controlling stake in Bigbasket. Flipkart Group has over 70 facilities across India. It recently raised $3.6 billion, including from Softbank, valuing the company at $37.6 billion, which is more than a 50 per cent rise in a year.

“E-commerce has played a crucial role throughout the pandemic by supporting people, small businesses, and creating thousands of local job opportunities,” said Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.

“I am happy to see the focussed investments by Amazon in building and scaling the state-of-the-art infrastructure. This will play a critical role in supporting MSMES jump-start from the economic disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic and accelerate their journey towards being digital entrepreneurs,” he said.

Kant said the future is digital and the MSMES must become drivers of this growth.