Flipkart says will create 2 mn jobs

Flipkart, India's largest e-commerce marketplace, said it will create over 2 million jobs through its marketplace and ancillary services in 2015.

According to Flipkart, in 2014 over half a million jobs were created in the entire e-commerce segment.

The rapid development of the e-commerce ecosystem in India will contribute towards the generation of employment across sectors, the company said in a statement.

''In the recent times, e-commerce has emerged as one of the key drivers of Indian economy. This industry has contributed a lot towards generation of employment opportunities along with enabling SMEs and local artisans. Sellers on our marketplace have been directly responsible for driving employment within their own communities,'' said Ankit Nagori, SVP – marketplace of Flipkart.

''In fact, e-commerce support facilities like merchandising, buying, packaging and cataloging have generated more than 75,000 jobs in the last one year,'' he added.

Generating both direct and indirect employment, the marketplace model has opened up opportunities in metros and non-metro cities. This year, nearly 50-60 per cent of employment will be created in tier II and III cities.

For instance cities like Jaipur and Baroda have already become the ancillary industry hubs (cataloging and packaging) and will continue to generate more opportunities in the future.

Sellers will also play a vital role in creation of jobs across India -- sellers of home products, apparels, mobile accessories and small appliances will generate the maximum employment. In fact, the growth and expansion of their businesses will generate a minimum of 20-25 jobs per seller this year.

E-commerce empowers every artisan and entrepreneur to explore this platform to expand and grow their business. As the business of local artisans increase, the demand for manpower will increase too.

''Currently, we offer a range of SME training programs across 20 cities in association with Ministry of Labour to train and guide interested people – helping them upgrade their skills and chart out their careers in industries that they choose to enter. We plan to scale up this to 40 cities in the next six months. Going by past trends, we are confident that Flipkart will generate close to 2 million jobs this year,'' Nagori added.