Flipkart strengthens its Supply Chain infrastructure in Karnataka with the introduction of 3 new fulfilment and sortation centres

• With a collective area of 7 lakh square feet, the new facilities are located in Kolar, Hubli and Anekal
• Fresh investment will help support over 10,500 sellers from the state while creating more than 14,000 direct and indirect new job opportunities ahead of the festive season

Bengaluru – August 26, 2021: Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, has strengthened its supply chain network in Karnataka with the addition of three new facilities ahead of the upcoming festive season. These new fulfilment centres will help create deeper capabilities to support thousands of sellers, MSMEs, small farmers from the state to cater to the growing customer demand, create more employment opportunities while enabling faster deliveries for consumers. The addition of the new facilities is a testament to Flipkart’s commitment to continue building the e-commerce ecosystem and serving customers & sellers from the state in a seamless manner while contributing to the state’s economic growth & prosperity.

Fulfilment centres are specialised facilities where products are received from sellers across the region, processed and packed and then sent to sortation centres and delivery hubs for delivery to the customers. These new facilities will serve sellers of large appliances, furniture, mobiles, apparel and electronics and are located in Kolar, Hubli and Anekal. Collectively spread across nearly 7 lakh square feet, the facilities have a storage capacity of 15.6 lac cubic feet helping more than 10,500 sellers. The expansion will further contribute to the state economy and create additional 14,000 direct and indirect job opportunities, as the sellers get national market access for their products.

The facilities were inaugurated in a virtual session by Shri Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister Parliamentary Affairs and Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha, from the Dharwad Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka. He was joined by Murugesh Nirani, Minister for Large & Medium Scale Industries, Government of Karnataka, Mangal Suresh Angadi, Member of Parliament from Belagavi and other bureaucrats from the state.

Shri Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister Parliamentary Affairs, Government of India while appreciating the homegrown e-commerce marketplace’s continued commitment to the state, said, “Karnataka, as the Silicon Valley of India, has been home to some of the most successful startups in the country with its conducive policies, state-of-the-art infrastructure and wide availability of talent. It’s a matter of great pride that Flipkart, a state-bred startup, has grown into a pan-India organisation and is making significant investments in its home state to accelerate value creation for all. The supply chain infrastructure expansion in the state including North Karnataka, will spur economic activity and create large scale entrepreneurship and employment opportunities in the state and we assure Flipkart of the full support of the government in its endeavour.”

Flipkart has nine supply chain facilities, including fulfilment and sortation hubs in Karnataka spread across nearly 23 lakh square feet area, creating more than 26,000 direct and indirect job opportunities.

With the region witnessing robust demand for e-commerce services, the addition of new facilities will also augment Flipkart’s capabilities to take the value  of e-commerce to thousands of sellers from the state and millions of first-time e-commerce customers across the country.

Commenting on the launch of the new facilities, Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Flipkart Group, said, “As a committed corporate citizen, our endeavour is to create value for all our stakeholders as we onboard lakhs of MSMEs and small sellers to serve millions of consumers from all the country. In this journey, we have invested in a tech-enabled supply chain network that is helping create thousands of direct job opportunities across the country, and also aiding indirect job opportunities in ancillary industries. The new state-of-the-art facilities will help in fueling economic growth while setting a benchmark in the industry and make Karnataka even more attractive for e-commerce operations for all stakeholders, including sellers, MSMEs, small farmers, Kiranas and artisans.”

Over the past few years, Karnataka has emerged as a strong market for e-commerce with lakhs of new customers, sellers and kirana partners turning to e-commerce to meet their requirements while making use of the entrepreneurship opportunities it offers. In addition, Flipkart is making e-commerce more inclusive for customers across the country, as the Flipkart app has a language interface in 11 Indian languages, including Kannada, Telugu Tamil and Malayalam among others.