Amazon pumps in Rs 122 Cr into its Indian logistics arm

The development comes days after Amazon launched a pilot called ‘Faster than Same Day’ delivery service for select bestselling smartphones.

Amazon has infused Rs 122 crore into its Indian logistics arm, Amazon Transportation Services Private Ltd, documents filed with Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows. The fund infusion was done by Amazon Corporate Holdings and Amazon.com.

This is the second round of infusion for Amazon Transportation Services after its raised Rs 130 crore in November last year. The US-based e-commerce giant has been aggressively pumping funds into its various Indian subsidiaries – sellers services, logistics, wholesale and payments.

Till now, the Indian logistics arm has received around Rs 800 crore across a span of multiple rounds of fund infusion. Amazon has currently over 50 fulfilment centres in India. Recently speaking to YourStory, Akhil Saxena, Amazon India Vice President for India Customer Fulfilment, said that ahead of the festival season, the e-tailer hired around 50,000 seasonal associates at various positions to help scale up operations.

Akhil added that the fulfilment centre's capacity has been increased to 20 million cubic feet, and the number of stores under the 'I Have Space' programme has been increased to 20,000 this year from 17,500 last year. Even the number of stations under 'service partner' programme has increased to 700 now from 350 last year. Under both these programmes, small stores and entrepreneurs sign up as partners for last-mile delivery.

The ecommerce giant recently announced that it is piloting a new delivery service for smartphones in the Delhi-NCR region. Under the ‘Faster than Same Day’ delivery service available on select best-selling smartphones, the products will be delivered within 3 to 5 hours.

The logistics arm of Amazon is said to have incurred a loss of Rs 24.7 crore and generated a revenue of Rs 1,574 in FY18.