Amazon launches largest India fulfilment centre at Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: The city's growing stature as a logistics hub, especially for e-commerce players, got another mammoth boost with US-based e-commerce giant Amazon unveiling its largest fulfilment centre (FC) in the country at GMR Hyderabad Airport City at Shamshabad on Thursday .
The FC, which is spread over 4,00,000 sft, is Amazon's fifth warehouse in Telangana and has a storage capacity of 2.1 million cubic feet.The FC ramps up Amazon's total storage capacity in Telangana to 3.2 million cubic feet.
Also, Amazon, which entered India in June 2013, now has 41 FCs across 13 states with a total storage capacity of 13 million cubic feet.
While Amazon refused to share investment figures for the FC or the total employment it would generate, company of ficials said the FC would have at least 1,000 peo ple working in it at any given point of time.
The three-storeyed facility has 51 loading and unloading docks that can handle around 1,000 trucks per day , 69 km of fi re hydrant piping, more than 500 km of five types of cables, over 15,000 fire sprinklers and a 1.6-km long conveyor belt to move packages.
Speaking to mediapersons on the occasion, Akhil Saxe na, vice-president, India Cus tomer Fulfilment, Amazon In dia, said the firm has more ro om to expand the Shamsha bad FC if need be as GMR has provided them extra space. He also termed the opening of FC as an impor tant milestone as Amazon had grown from one FC at Bhiwandi in Maharashtra in 2013 to 41 centres and from 100 sellers in two categories to 2.25 lakh sellers in just four years.“Our vision is to transform the way India buys and sells.We have been consistently investing in our infrastructure and delivery network, so we can increase our speed of delivery and provide a superior experience to customers and sellers. With the launch of our largest fulfilment center here in Telangana, we believe we will be able to better serve our customers with one-day and two-day delivery . The FC will enable sellers to use local infrastructure, save capital and help them grow their businesses,“ said Saxena.
Pointing out that the ecommerce giant has not just invested in fulfilment centres in Telangana, but also has two sort centres and 50 delivery stations, Saxena said: “With this FC we will be able to create employment opportunities for hundreds of people directly and indirectly where services like logistics, transportation, hospitality and anciliary industries like packaging will see a local fillip. A lot of the packaging being used now is being sourced locally ,“ Saxena said. GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd CEO SGK Kishore said the FC was set up in a record time of six months and would serve as a major booster of investor sentiment not just for the Hyderabad Airport City but also Brand Hyderabad and Brand Telangana. A centrally located Hyderabad has been a destination of choice for e-commerce players for setting up warehousing facilities. Amazon also has FCs at Medchal (80,000 sft dedicated big appliances facility), Tolichowki and Kompally . Incidentally , Amazon will also be setting up its largest tech development centre outside of its headquarters Seattle at Hyderabad.