Home-grown e-commerce platform Flipkart, one of India’s leading online retailers, is one of the biggest names in the game, commanding a share of 31.9% (as of October 2020) in one of the largest markets in the world. Its customer base has been growing steadily over the years, giving rise to the necessity of sound logistics and data center capabilities. On Monday, Walmart’s Flipkart entered into a strategic and commercial partnership with multinational infrastructure behemoth Adani Group to set up a new data center (Flipkart’s third in India) and enhance its own supply chain infrastructure and further enhance its ability to serve its rapidly growing base of customers.
The partnership will entail both Flipkart and Adani Logistics Limited, which provides end-to-end logistics services and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited, to work together. Adani Logistics will construct a 534,000 square-foot fulfilment center as well at the upcoming logistics hub in Mumbai, which will be leased to Flipkart. Its purpose will be to address the growing demand for e-commerce in Western India and to support the market access of several thousands of sellers and MSMEs in the region. The fulfilment center is set to be operational in the third quarter of 2022, housing 10 million units of seller inventory. The upcoming facility will also create 2,500 direct jobs and thousands of more indirect jobs, according to Flipkart.
Flipkart will be setting up its third data center in the country at the Chennai-based facility of AdaniconneX Private Limited. According to Flipkart, the new center will be designed for its growing infrastructure needs and will help it in storing data locally, while also focusing on security. While meeting the highest standards in reliability, sustainability, and security, it will also piggyback on Adani Group’s position as the leader in solar energy in the country to generate renewable, green power.
Kalian Krishnamurthy, the CEO, Flipkart Group, praised the Adani Group, saying that it was unmatched in the way it has built infrastructure in the country. “What it brought to us was a unique combination of logistics, real estate, green energy, and data center infrastructure capabilities. We are delighted to initiate our association with the Adani Group to strengthen our supply chain and technology infrastructure. At the Flipkart Group, we are focused on ensuring that our customers get access to a wide range of products made available by sellers across the country as we continuously innovate to drive greater affordability. Our logistics network and technology stack is instrumental in making this a reality. These investments will help us strengthen our presence and capabilities in India to support MSMEs and sellers while also accelerating job creation and growth,” he said.
Karan Adani, the CEO, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, said that he was delighted to see two of India’s fastest-growing businesses come together to help build some of the most critical as well as state-of-the-art infrastructure that the nation needs, even going on to add that this was what Aatmanirbhar Bharat should have been all about.
“This broad-ranging partnership across our logistics and data center businesses is a unique business model, and we see this as a great opportunity to serve Flipkart’s physical as well as digital infrastructure needs. Flipkart has been instrumental in defining e-commerce adoption in India, both through the value it creates and its constant technological innovation to serve its consumers. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership as we focus on learning from each other as well as leveraging our mutual strengths to prioritize consumers and development of India’s MSME ecosystem,” he added.
