Amazon moves its largest Indian fulfilment centre to neighboring state as Karnataka dithers

22nd April 2015
Amazon moves its largest Indian fulfilment centre to neighboring state as Karnataka dithers
A typical Amazon fulfilment centre

Hyderabad, April 22, 2015:   Bangalore's loss is Hyderabad's gain.  India's largest online trader, Amazon, has  said  thast starting May 2015, it will  operate its latest Fulfilment Centre from  a 28000 sq. m. facility on the outskirts of  the Telengana state capital.
This constitutes  its largest  largest investment in infrastructure in any single state, to date.
The FC will allow Amazon.in to offer its Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) service to thousands of small and medium businesses in the state and empower them to gain access to and service customers across the country at significantly low operating costs.  It will also enable faster and quicker delivery of products to amazon.in customers in the region.
The move to set up a based in Hyderabad follows Amazon's difficulty with the state government of Karnataka  which  proved somewhat unhelpful if not unimaginative in handling Internet Age enterprises like Amazon  which in many ways break the mould of traditional retail selling.  Amazon's B2B model involves holding vast stocks of goods which it does not own -- only facilitates selling for a vast  number of traders.   States like Karnataka have belied their  IT savvy image when it comes to dealing with such entitities  and trying to  fit them into existing taxation templates. In  the process, more progressive administrations like Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have reaped the benefits of their agility and willingness to innovate.
Amazon will  now have 11 FC’s  operational across nine states in India covering a total of over one million square feet  space  with a storage capacity of over 2.5 million cubic feet.
Says Telengana state Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao: "We are very excited that Amazon has decided to invest their biggest warehouse in Telangana. We have passed the TS iPass bill in our Assembly that ensures self-certification and deemed approval of all clearances within 3 weeks of application for any Mega Project. For Amazon, we have given all clearances in 11 days, well within the guaranteed time. We are making all efforts to make Telangana an investor friendly state."
Amazon has also contracted with the Telangana State Government to train thousands of sellers across the state in ecommerce and take advantage of the digital economy. Under the MOU, Amazon India will offer trainings to SMEs through seminars, workshops, video aids and ready reckoners on how to list & manage inventory for an ecommerce business.
Says Dave Clark, Senior Vice President Worldwide Operations and Customer Service at Amazon: “Telangana has been home to our IT operations in India. It is the ease of doing business in the state, thanks to the progressive state government, that has encouraged us to make further significant investments in the state. The World-class fulfillment infrastructure and customer service will allow Amazon to do the heavy lifting for the thousands of small & medium sellers from the state and help them grow profitably.”
And Amit Agarwal, VP and Country Manager, Amazon India adds “We are committed to and look forward to partnering the state government in transforming the lives of small and medium businesses across the state by giving them access to tools and technology that will empower their growth in the digital economy. Likewise the citizens of Telangana can look forward to getting a quick, easy and convenient access to products from India’s largest selection of over 21 million  products on Amazon.in.”
Amazon recently introduced the Amazon Seller App enables direct buyer-seller communication, order notification, order details, shipment confirmation and order fulfillment notifications through mobile devices. These services help sellers reduce their operational costs considerably as well as increase sales. As the profit margins increase, sellers pass on these benefits to consumers in the form of reduced prices.
Since its launch in June 2013, Amazon’s marketplace (www.amazon.in) has grown to be India’s largest store with over 21 million products from a continually growing base of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses