Amazon likely to bring Web Services to Telangana

E-commerce major opens 280k-sq-ft fulfilment centre, its largest in India, in Mahabubnagar district

E-commerce major Amazon is likely to bring Amazon Web Services (AWS), a collection of remote computing services that make up a cloud computing platform, to Telangana.

“We have requested Amazon to bring its cloud initiative AWS to Telangana besides setting up a data centre in the state capital. A delegation from the US is expected to pay a visit to Hyderabad pretty soon, and we are hopeful of receiving a positive response from them,” state information technology and Panchayat Raj minister KT Rama Rao told mediapersons on Wednesday.

According to Akhil Saxena, director (operations), Amazon India, construction on the company's proposed campus in Hyderabad, its largest outside of the US, will commence shortly.

“Land to the extent of 10 acre has already been allotted by the state government for the 2.5-million sq ft campus, while various other approvals, including a clearance from the ministry of environment and forests, have come through,” Saxena said, while declining to share the quantum of the investments that Amazon was infusing into its new campus.

Opens largest fulfilment center in Telangana
Amazon on Wednesday opened a 280,000-sq-ft fulfilment centre, its largest in India, in Mahabubnagar district of Telangana. Amazon now has 11 such centres in India, covering a total of one million sq ft of space with a storage capacity of over 2.5 million cubic metre.

Since its launch in 2013, Amazon's market place Amazon.in has so far sold 22 million products, from a continually-growing base of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), Saxena said.

The new centre will help SMBs in Telangana and nearby regions to gain access to and service customers across the country at low operating costs.

It will also offer same day, two-day and Sunday deliveries as well, according to Saxena.

Stating that Amazon India had entered into a deal with the Telangana government, under which the former will train thousands of sellers in the state in e-commerce and take advantage of the digital economy, Saxena said Amazon would offer training to SMBs through seminars, workshops and video aids.

“The relationship with Telangana  will go beyond the FC. To eliminate the middlemen menace and to promote handicraft like Pemberthy brassware, Gajwel and Pochampally sarees globally, we (Amazon and Telangana government) are putting together an online marketplace, which will start shortly," he said.

Meanwhile,  the state IT minister said domestic handset maker Micromax and Chinese mobile original equipment manufacturer Foxconn were expected to submit their letters of intent to set up manufacturing facilities in and around Hyderabad, on Friday.