Flipkart to create 2 million jobs in 2015

Flipkart said 50-60% of the jobs created by the company in 2015 would be in Tier II and Tier III cities

Leading e-commerce company Flipkart on Wednesday said it would directly and indirectly create about two million jobs in 2015 through its marketplace and ancillary services.

Among other segments, logistics and warehousing would be key employment generators, the company said.

In 2014, the e-commerce industry created about half a million jobs, according to Flipkart.

The Bengaluru-based company employs about 33,000 people. Earlier this week, Flipkart said it planned to double the size of its technology team in 2015 to 2,000.

“E-commerce has contributed a lot to generation of employment opportunities while enabling small and medium enterprises and local artisans,” said Ankit Nagori, senior vice-president for marketplace at Flipkart. “Sellers on our marketplace have been responsible for driving employment within their own communities. Support facilities like merchandising, buying, packaging and cataloging have generated more than 75,000 jobs in the last year,” he added.

Flipkart said 50-60 per cent of the jobs created by the company in 2015 would be Tier II and Tier III cities. “Jaipur and Baroda have become ancillary industry hubs (cataloging and packaging) and they will continue to generate more opportunities,” the company said.

Sellers would create around 20-25 jobs each, Flipkart said. The company has 30,000 sellers in its online marketplace.

“We offer programmes in 20 cities in association with the ministry of labour to train interested people, helping them upgrade skills and chart out careers in industries they choose to enter,” Nagori said. “We plan to scale up this to 40 cities in the next six months,” he added.