After doubling seller base, Amazon to double its office footprint in India

Online retail giant Amazon India, after doubling its seller base in less than a year, is almost all set to double its office footprint in the country. The firm has planned to lease another 2.5 million sqft up from its already existing 3.1 million sqft across India, according to sources close to the development.

Amazon is eyeing high-density and popular cities like Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad and NCR to serve its local customers in the country.

Seattle-based firm is looking for an additional 0.9-million-sqft space either in the financial district of Gachibowli or Raidurgam, in Hyderabad, besides the 1.5 million sqft it already occupies in five buildings spread across the city. These plans are separate from a 3-million-sqft.

In Bengaluru, the e-tailer is also looking for an additional 0.6 million sqft area in Outer Ring Road or the northern part of the IT city. It already has an existing office portfolio of 1.6 million sqft spread over two centres.

According to industry experts, Entrackr spoke to, this is a positive sign for overall e-commerce and business park developers in the country as the industry had not seen kind of growth in recent times. Earlier, Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal had to halt their ambitious expansion plans due to the funding crunch.

Recently, competitors like Paytm and Flipkart raised investments and are in expansion mode. In August, SoftBank Vision Fund infused $2.5 billion in Flipkart.

Since its Arrival in 2013, Amazon India has challenged its counterparts in almost all the aspects to outrun them. Jeff Bezos-led company has registered 88 per cent growth in gross sales volume for the June quarter. They reach 2 lakh sellers milestone on its marketplace platform.

Amazon India has witnessed an increase of about 60 per cent by value in the same quarter compared with a year earlier. Recently, the firm hired over 12,00 professionals in India as part of its expansion plan.