Amazon India plans to set up rest-points across cities where it operates

Amazon India plans to set up rest points for its delivery associates across cities over the next couple of years under Project Ashray, a senior company official said on Friday.

The Ashray centres will provide clean drinking water, phone charging stations, washrooms, and rest areas for delivery associates.

As a pilot, five rest points will be set up in collaboration with Udyasa Foundation in Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai.

"Our plan is to be able to go to every city we operate in. We have 1,800 delivery stations across the length and breadth of the country. In the next couple of years, you will find this in pretty much every city in India," Amazon India, Vice President Operations, Abhinav Singh said.

He said that the project will be launched initially in cities where the company has a high number of drivers.

"As we find a scalable model we will scale it to the rest of the country," Singh said.

The Ashray centres will also cater to the larger community, providing access to delivery associates from different companies. Each centre can accommodate up to 15 people at a time and will be operational from 9 am to 9 pm. The facility's usage will be free and limited to 30 minutes per visit per delivery associate.

Amazon India is also exploring the public-private partnership (PPP) model for the development of additional resting facilities under Project Ashray in the coming months.

E-commerce companies like Amazon have drawn criticism from Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal over "predatory pricing".

The minister recently went public with his fears about the impact of predatory pricing on small retailers and warned of the "huge social disruption" with the massive growth of the e-commerce sector.

The minister questioned Amazon's announcement of USD 1 billion investment in India, saying the US retailer was not doing any great service to the Indian economy but filling up for the losses it had suffered in the country.

Goyal had later said he is not against online platforms but India wants such entities to be "fair and honest" in their conduct.

When asked about view on Goyal's remarks over predatory pricing, Singh said that he cannot comment on the minister's remark as he was not aware of it.

He, however, shared his personal opinion that the issue of predatory is incorrect.