Amazon’s big plans for Telangana: Hyderabad warehouse soon

A delegation from US-based e-retail giant Amazon, led by John Schoettler, global director and head for real estate and facilities, on Wednesday announced aggressive expansion plans in Telangana after a meeting with the newly-formed state's information technology minister K T Rama Rao in Hyderabad.

Among other things, Amazon will set up a warehouse centre in Hyderabad within two months.

"Amazon has come forward to set up a warehouse / fulfilment centre in Hyderabad. Amazon will start their operations from a leased facility in about two months before their own facility is constructed," said a state government statement.

The expansion plans of Amazon in Hyderabad and Telangana were discussed during the meeting.

Amazon will train micro small and medium enterprise (MSME) clusters for utilising the online platform for boosting their revenue.

Rama Rao assured the delegation that the government would extend all incentives to the Amazon facility as per the new industrial policy.

He also requested Amazon to create an online market place for promoting Telangana handicrafts such as Nirmal handicraft, Pochampalli sarees, Bidri ware etc.

The delegation responded positively and said an action plan would be worked out for promoting such handicrafts on Amazon.

The government and Amazon will announce details of their agreements in the second week of February.

Rama Rao accepted Schoettler's invitation to visit their Seattle campus in April.

Government officials earlier said Amazon plans to build a 10 lakh square feet facility, which will be its biggest outside its corporate headquarters in the US. The proposed campus is expected to provide 5,000 jobs.