Amazon plans for India spell big, be it staff or space

E-COMMERCE giant Amazon's Indian arm is on an expansion spree in Bengaluru. Although the company has not announced any new investment in the city this year, expanded its presence with the opening of a new office in the IT Corridor last week.

Sources close to the development said the e-commerce giant is planning to add around 5,000 new jobs in Bengaluru. Earlier this month, the company opened a new office spread over 5 lakh square feet at Bagmane Constellation Business Park on Marathahalli Outer Ring Road in the easter n suburb of the city. Its third office and second in Bagmane Constellation Business Park is currently under development and is expected to be operational later this year.

Together, these two offices will have a total of 1.2 million square feet space. In February, the company announced an additional investment of R1,980 crore in India.

Amazon has witnessed a phenomenal growth of close to 40% in headcount with centres in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi/NCR. “In Bengaluru alone, we have expanded our presence with a new office in the IT corridor. Last week, we opened the new office and our employees are still moving in there ”, the spokesperson added.

In addition, the company recently announced its biggest campus outside the US in Hyderabad, which is spread over nearly 10 acres. This also marks the company's second biggest investment in the state in a matter of one year. The company will employ around 12,000 to 14,000 employees in this centre.

In Bengaluru currently, Amazon is operating out of World Trade Centre (WTC) in Yeshwantpur, where it has taken close to 7 lakh sq ft space. While the company has refused to divulge its headcount in Ben ga lu ru, it is estimated to be over 10,000 in Bengaluru by end of 2016.

With a wide portfolio of products, Amazon.in has emerged as India’s largest online store. It offers 3.5 crore products to customers across India with a delivery footprint across over 19,000 serviceable pin codes in India. Amazon.in has built the largest fulfillment infrastructure in the e-commerce industry in India with 21 fulfillment centres across 10 Indian states, offering a total storage capacity of 5 million cubic feet, enabling sellers to reach their customers across the country quickly and efficiently.

“We are very excited by the tremendous response we have received from our customers and sellers in India. India today is the largest market outside of the US for a number of new customers to Amazon. We continue look at India as a key growth market and continue to invest aggressively with a long-term horizon,” the Amazon spokesperson said.

In contrast, its rival Flipkart, the home grown e-commerce player, which had signed the biggest rental agreement for R300 crore, is surrendering a million sq ft in Bengaluru due to slowdown.

Amazon launched its India marketplace, Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd, in June 2013 and it had committed to invest $2 billion (around R13,000 crore) in India a year later. It has steadily poured money ever since.

Amazon continued to invest and lead India-specific innovations and introduced several new programmes Kirana Nowthe grocery business, Project Udaan, a skill development initiative for sellers and Amazon-Business, a B2B wholesale marketplace for the procurement of supplies by small and medium businesses.

Amazon India reported a net sales of R1,022 crore for the year ended March 31, 2015, a six-fold increase compared to theprevious year. However, losses for the same period stood at R1,724 crore as the company burnt cash on advertising and discount, in an effort to catch u-Your data has been truncated.