Amazon India creates over 100k job opportunities ahead of festival sale

Amazon India said it has created more than 100,000 seasonal job opportunities across its operations network for the Indian festive season. These opportunities include direct and indirect jobs across India in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Chennai.

Ahead of Amazon Great Indian Festival (GIF) starting on October 8, 2023, with early access for Prime customers starting on October 7, Amazon India has already onboarded the majority of these new hires into its existing network.

“We are welcoming an additional workforce of over 100,000 to strengthen our fulfilment, delivery and customer service capabilities and ensure a great shopping experience for millions of customers who are looking forward to shopping with us,” said Akhil Saxena, Vice President Operations, APAC, MENA, LATAM and WW Customer Service Head, Amazon. “Beyond elevating customer satisfaction, seasonal hiring plays a vital role in empowering individuals with work opportunities and financial independence, and more importantly, boosting the festive economy.”

The new hires will pick, pack, ship and deliver customer orders safely and efficiently. New hires also include customer service associates, some of whom are part of the virtual customer service model, aimed at providing an elevated customer experience as they strengthen their footprint across the country.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to Amazon’s commitment to delivering exceptional service to customers,” said Selim S K, a recent seasonal hire at Amazon India. “The work environment and facilities, with a particular focus on everyone’s health and safety, are truly commendable.”

Amazon’s rival Flipkart recently said it will generate over 100,000 new job opportunities across its supply chain, including fulfilment and sortation centres and delivery hubs. The Walmart-owned e-commerce firm is gearing up to mark the 10th edition of its annual flagship event, The Big Billion Days (TBBD), which also starts on October 8. In the run-up to the festive season, Flipkart is looking at hiring and creating lakhs of seasonal jobs across its pan-India supply chain to cater to customer demand during the festive season.

Amazon India has built a strong fulfilment and delivery network and established significant partnerships. The company has fulfilment centres spread across 15 states, offering 43 million cubic feet of storage space for seller inventory. This benefits over 1.3 million sellers in the country. Amazon India has sortation centres in 19 states, along with a network of close to 2,000 Amazon-operated and partner delivery stations. Also, it has 28,000 ‘I Have Space’ partners and thousands of Amazon Flex partners, who are ready to deliver smiles to customers across the country. This is further strengthened by Amazon’s symbiotic public and private partnerships.

As e-commerce companies gear up to tackle high demand in the upcoming festive season, India is likely to see 500,000 new jobs for gig workers, according to the staffing solutions company TeamLease. The country had around 200,000 open positions for gig workers primarily in last-mile delivery space and warehouse operations. This is expected to touch 700,000 by December.

TeamLease said this year’s festive hiring is anticipated to witness a remarkable 25 per cent increase in gig jobs compared to the same period last year, reflecting the sector’s optimistic outlook and aspirations to boost positive sentiments.

Interestingly, the demand for warehousing operations, last-mile delivery personnel and call centre operators is higher in Tier-II and Tier-III cities compared to Tier-I cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.