Amazon.com Inc is setting up its first ''fulfilment centre'' in India.
Fulfilment centres are giant warehouses that help Amazon and other online retailers store many products, ship them and handle returns quickly.
The fulfilment centre is based in Mumbai, according to job listings on Amazon’s India careers website.
Amazon “has an immediate opening for IT Manager in our first fulfillment centre based out in Mumbai, India,” one recent listing said.
Another recent Amazon job posting sought a “Stations Operations Manager” to work for the fulfilment centre team in Mumbai.
Amazon spent heavily last year setting up more than 10 new fulfillment centres in the US.
The company also lists fulfillment centres in China, Germany, Japan and the UK on its website, but currently lists none in India. Fulfilment centres cost a lot to set up, so Amazon’s efforts to start one in India signal the company is serious about getting into the country’s $550 billion retail market. Amazon has software development centres in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad and a customer-service centre in Hyderabad.
Amazon’s recent job listing for Stations Operations Manager in Mumbai suggests the company is planning a delivery network of its own in the city.
The job involves identifying locations for “delivery stations,” managing a city-wide delivery team and “ensuring rapid growth in the delivery infrastructure throughout the city,” the listing said.
The position also involves setting up process for transporting items from the Mumbai fulfilment centre to delivery stations and getting products from those stations to customer addresses.