Flipkart strikes deal with Adani; to create 2,500 more jobs
Walmart Inc.'s Flipkart and Adani Group on Monday announced a strategic partnership to strengthen logistics and data center capabilities. Adani Group is headed by India's fastest-rising billionaire Gautam Adani. The pact is aimed at creating 2,500 direct jobs, the companies said in a statement. The move marks Adani's foray into the online shopping space, which is chiefly dominated by Amazon. Here are more details.
According to a joint statement, Flipkart will work with Adani Logistics Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. The two-pronged partnership is aimed at strengthening Flipkart's supply chain infrastructure and further enhance its ability to serve its rapidly growing base of customers. The statement did not mention any financial details of the partnership.
Flipkart will also establish a third data center at the Chennai-based facility of AdaniConneX—a joint venture between EdgeConneX and Adani Enterprises Ltd. The data center will address Flipkart's growing infrastructure needs and keep its data locally within India. It "has been designed to meet the highest standards in reliability, security, and sustainability," utilizing Adani Group's position as India's largest solar player for green power.
Adani Logistics Ltd. will also construct a 5.34 lakh sq ft warehouse in Mumbai. The warehouse will address the growing demand for e-commerce in western India. It will also support the market access of several thousands of sellers and MSMEs in the region. This center—with a capacity of 10 million units of sellers' inventory—is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2022.
"In addition to strengthening Flipkart's supply chain infrastructure to support MSMEs and sellers, the facility will enhance local employment and create ~2,500 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs," the statement further said.
Karan Adani, CEO of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, said in a statement, "I am 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 our nation needs." "This is what Atmanirbharata should be all about," Adani said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) campaign.
Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said, "The Adani Group is unmatched in the way it has gone about building infrastructure across India. What it brought to us was a unique combination of logistics, real estate, green energy, and data center infrastructure capabilities." "Our logistics network and technology stack is instrumental in making this a reality," Krishnamurthy added.
