Flipkart says new fulfilment centre in Bengal will create 11,000 jobs

Facility would help Walmart-owned firm compete with Amazon, Reliance's JioMart, and Tata-owned BigBasket.

E-commerce firm Flipkart on Thursday opened India’s largest "fulfilment centre" in Haringhata, West Bengal, saying the facility will create employment and promote entrepreneurship in eastern India.

The tech-enabled facility will create more than 11,000 job opportunities and will support around 20,000 sellers from the state and North-East region. It was inaugurated (virtually) during the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) by Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee.

“It is a matter of immense pride that West Bengal will now house one of the largest fulfilment centres in the country as India’s e-commerce logistics industry takes a stride with the establishment of Flipkart’s state-of-the-art futuristic fulfilment centre in Haringhata,” said Banerjee.

The "Big Box" facility has an integrated supply chain management spread across 110 acres, said Walmart-owned Flipkart. The facility would help Flipkart compete with Amazon, Reliance’s JioMart, and Tata-owned BigBasket, which are also scaling up their infrastructure to tap the online retail market.

“E-commerce has the power to truly connect every Indian while creating shared value for an ecosystem of sellers, customers,  artisans, kiranas and the farmer community,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer, Flipkart Group.

Krishnamurthy said a strong supply chain is a backbone for connecting lakhs of small and large businesses, and as a homegrown e-commerce marketplace.

“We are committed to investing in infrastructure, technology and talent to unlock this opportunity for the country’s economic growth,” said Krishnamurthy. “The launch of the Haringhata fulfilment centre will further strengthen supply chain infrastructure and is an important milestone in the creation of technology-led modern warehousing infrastructure in the country.”

Flipkart said the Haringhata facility has achieved the unique distinction of being India’s first e-commerce facility to be provisionally certified with a Platinum rating by the Indian Green Buildings Council (IGBC), under the new warehouse category of the IGBC Green Logistics Parks and Warehouses Rating System. The framework integrates multiple dimensions of sustainability such as reduced carbon emissions, enhanced energy and water savings and rainwater harvesting.

“The state of West Bengal is committed to building a conducive environment for investment for the economic development of the region," said Partha Chatterjee, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Enterprise, Government of West Bengal. "I’m delighted to say that Flipkart has been a long-standing partner to the state in driving economic prosperity through its investments in supply chain infrastructure, people and technology."

Last year, Flipkart’s chief rival Amazon India announced its plans to expand its fulfilment network in India, with a nearly 40 per cent increase in its storage capacity over the previous period. With this expansion, Amazon.in will have more than 43 million cubic feet of storage capacity, across 15 States, supporting around 850,000 sellers across India.

The expansion is in line with Amazon India’s continued efforts to heavily invest in the country and create tens of thousands of direct and indirect work opportunities. Amazon India’s overall fulfilment network will be spread across a floor area of more than 10 million square feet. This is more than the land size of 125 football fields, housing millions of products from notebooks to dishwashers. Amazon has committed that it will create around 20 lakh direct and indirect jobs by 2025.