Amazon opens its largest campus in the world in Hyderabad today; to accommodate 15,000 workers

Amazon has opened its largest campus in the world in Hyderabad today. The new campus that can accommodate 15,000 workers comes on the back of the company's ambitious expansion plans in the country.

The campus was under construction in Hyderabad for three years. The campus that spans 1.8 million square feet is Amazon's first owned-building outside of the US. Amazon's Global Real Estate and Facilities Vice President John Schoettler said that the largest buildings in Seattle house about 5,000 employed. He also added that while the Hyderabad campus is Amazon's largest campus in the world, it also has plenty of room to grow.

According to a report in Bloomberg, Amit Agarwal, Amazon's country manager for India said that this facility will build services globally citing examples of AWS, Kindle, Alexa and Amazon Home Services that is innovating on things like doorstep pick-up and electronics repair.

Amazon is also looking beyond e-commerce in India. It is in talks with Future Retail, one of India's largest retailers for a 10 per cent stake. Recent reports also suggest that the company is planning to foray into the food-delivery space and compete with the likes of Zomato and Swiggy. The company is also producing Indian originals on Prime Video to boost subscriptions. Agarwal also added that Prime membership in India has doubled over the past 18 months and he still sees tremendous growth going forward.

The latest campus comes amid the company's ongoing e-commerce battle with Walmart in India. Agarwal mentioned that e-commerce is significantly small in India when compared to the total consumption - less than 3 per cent. Tapping the country's market is crucial for Amazon and Walmart's global domination plans. Walmart spent $16 billion last year to buy India's biggest homegrown retailer Flipkart. Jeff Bezos also pledged $5.5 billion in Amazon's India operations.

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