Amazon invests Rs 207 crore in its Indian logistics unit, to add 10 warehouses this year

Amazon India owned - Amazon Transportation Services (ATS) has received Rs 207 crore from Amazon Corporate Holding Singapore and Amazon Malaysia. The fund infusion was revealed through documents filed with the registrar of companies (RoC). Earlier, ATS had raised about Rs 67 crore in September last year.

Amazon and its arch rival Flipkart have been heavily investing in warehousing to streamline supply chain and ensure quick delivery across the country. Last month, it  had announced to add seven new warehouses, which will employ about 4,000 people.

The US-based company, which has committed an investment of $5 billion in the Indian market, will have 41 warehouses across 13 states by the end of this year. Currently, it has 31 fulfilment centres and will add about 10 more in coming months.

Amazon had launched the logistics arm in March 2015 to take on the homegrown rival Flipkart.

Fulfilment centres are primarily warehouses, where sellers can stock their inventory. Merchants can cut their expenses by replacing their upfront capital expense with low variable cost and pay only for the storage space they use and the orders fulfilled by Amazon.

The initiative will enable flexibility to sellers to store their inventory in any of the warehouses as the goods and services tax rolls out from the next month. Out of $5 billion committed to India unit, it has already spent nearly $2.5 billion.

According to some media reports, the new warehouses will serve to tier 2 and 3 cities across the country. Amazon is also doubling the storage capacity of its warehouse in Ahmedabad and increasing the storage capability in Delhi’s warehouse by six times to meet higher than expected demand during peak season.

So far this year, Amazon India has invested Rs 67 crore in Amazon Pay and Rs 100 crore in Amazon Wholesale respectively.

Image credit: flickr