Flipkart takes on Amazon afresh with Rs 3,000 cr investment in logistics arm

The Flipkart Group is going all out to ensure it is equipped in the fight against Amazon India. If reports are to be believed, the e-commerce market leader has assigned Rs 3,000 crore (about $460 million) to its logistics arm Ekart for investments and acquisitions. The development comes immediately after reports said Singapore-based Klick2Shop, an international logistics firm, invested Rs 641 crore in Ekart.

“Considering the future requirements of the company whereby it may have to make strategic investments in other business/acquire companies for inorganic growth, extend loans and/or guarantee to other corporates or provide security in connection with loans availed by other corporate, it is proposed to fix the limits at $460 Mn (INR 3, 000 Cr),” InstaKart's filing with the Registrar of Commissions (RoC) said. Flipkart's logistics business is registered as InstaKart.

Curiously, Amazon India has applied for exclusive rights on multi-scale fiducials, black and white marks on an object, for its self-operating aerial vehicles, or drones, to identify them.

After festival season sales last month, both Flipkart and Amazon made major claims about their logistics capabilities. Ekart handled over two million packages in a day at its main Bengaluru hub during the Big Billion Days (BBD), while Amazon, on average, delivered 23 packages per second to its customers across India.

According to a report by research and advisory firm RedSeer Consulting, Flipkart emerged as the leader after the just-concluded festival season sales with a market share of 58 percent versus Amazon’s 26 percent.

Since Flipkart raised $1.4 billion from eBay, Microsoft, and Tencent at a valuation of $11.6 billion in April this year, the e-commerce major has been building on its private label in categories like electronics, furniture, and large appliances.

Earlier this month, Flipkart had invested Rs 254 crore in its digital payments arm PhonePe.