Ahead Of Festive Season, Amazon India Creates 1.1 Lakh Seasonal Jobs

With the festive season just around the corner, Amazon India said it has created more than 1.1 Lakh seasonal “job opportunities” in the country. 

In a statement on Thursday (September 12), the ecommerce major said that direct and indirect jobs have been created in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Chennai, among others. 

As part of the hiring spree, the company claimed to have hired “thousands of women associates” and an additional 1,900 persons with disabilities.

“We are committed to providing customers across every serviceable pincode in India with fast and reliable deliveries this festive season. To meet this goal, we have hired over 1.1 Lakh additional people to strengthen our fulfilment and logistics network and ensure we can handle the increased demand seamlessly…,” said Abhinav Singh, vice-president of operations at Amazon India.

Commenting on the development, union labour minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, “Amazon’s commitment to create over 1 Lakh seasonal employment opportunities across India is a commendable step towards bolstering the nation’s workforce during the festive period…”.

Meanwhile, as per a report, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found Amazon India, along with Flipkart, guilty of flouting antitrust regulations and pushing certain listings and sellers.

However, this is not the first time that Amazon India has landed in the crosshairs of regulators. Earlier this year, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took suo motu cognisance of a news report that detailed allegations of labour law violations at Amazon India’s warehouse in Manesar. 

The report, citing factory workers, claimed that female employees were made to stand duty for nine hours a day, and added that there were no restroom facilities available for women employees at the Manesar unit. Another worker reportedly claimed that he was asked to take a pledge that he would not take toilet or water breaks till the unloading of packages from six trucks was completed.

Subsequently, the ecommerce major acknowledged lapses in workplace safety at the warehouse and said that it would take immediate corrective measures to fix the issues.

Meanwhile, the ecommerce giant has onboarded employees as it gears for the upcoming festive season, during which ecommerce firms witness a major uptick in online sales. However, with the rising popularity of quick commerce, Amazon will not only compete with the likes of Flipkart and Meesho but also Swiggy Instamart, Zomato-owned Blinkit, and Zepto this festive season.

Amazon India claims to have 1.4 Mn sellers on its platform and operates multiple fulfilment centres spanning 15 states and 43 Mn cubic feet of storage.