Flipkart partners with Adani Group to set up fulfilment, data centres

Walmart backed ecommerce company Flipkart has announced a strategic and commercial partnership with the Adani Group to set up a new fulfilment centre in Mumbai and develop its third data centre in Chennai. 

As part of the partnership with Adani Logistics, a subsidiary of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Flipkart will lease a 5.34 lakh square feet fulfilment centre at its upcoming facility in Mumbai.  

The centre, as per a statement, will be operational by third quarter of 2022. It will have the capacity to store 10 million units of seller inventory at any given point, serving the demand in western India. The facility will also provide nearly 2,500 direct jobs, it said. 

Flipkart has also partnered with AdaniConneX, a joint venture between Adani Enterprises and global data centre operator EdgeConneX, to set up its second data centre in Chennai.  

“This broad-ranging partnership across our logistics and data centre 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,” Karan Adani, CEO of Adani Ports and SEZ, said in the statement. 

"Flipkart has been instrumental in defining ecommerce 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 prioritise consumers and development of India’s MSME ecosystem,” he said. 

In 2019, Flipkart had partnered with CtrlS to set up a data centre in Hyderabad. 

Earlier this month, Flipkart was allotted 140 acres of land by the Haryana government to set up Asia’s largest fulfilment centre, covering 3 million square feet, at Manesar. This was reportedly part of Flipkart’s logistics and freight business expansion plans under InstaKart Services, which it looks to achieve by setting up new logistics facilities.  

“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,” Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO at Flipkart Group, said in the statement.  

“Our logistics network and technology stack are 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.  

Earlier this month, Flipkart had announced a tie up with Mahindra Logistics for electric last mile cargo delivery service. The firm aims to deploy 25,000 electric vehicles in its logistics fleet over the next decade.