Amazon India to move Bengaluru headquarters to cut costs, employees unhappy: Report

Amazon India would pay less than a third of the rent it currently pays for the half a million square feet of office space it occupies at the World Trade Centre

Amazon India is moving its corporate headquarters from the World Trade Centre at north-west Bengaluru to the city's outskirts, a 15-minute drive away from the airport as a part of a cost cutting exercise, according to a Mint report.

Smartphone with Amazon logo is seen in front of displayed Indian flag in this illustration taken, July 30, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

This is because at the new location, the e-commerce giant would pay less than a third of the ₹250 per square feet rent it currently pays for nearly half a million square feet of office space it occupies at the World Trade Centre.

Companies like Amazon are now focusing on cutting costs after use of tech products reduced following the lifting of the lockdowns. Plus before the pandemic, interest rates were low and the global economy was booming.

The relocation will start in April 2025 and get completed by April 2026, according to the report.

Amazon's current office is housed in a 40-acre complex with over 1,200 residential flats, a shopping complex, a five-star hotel, a hospital, and a school, alongside other facilities such as a club and a jogging track.

Because of this, many of the 5,000 Amazon employees were encouraged to live nearby, with Amazon employees occupying a fourth of the flats at the complex.

They are now unhappy with the company's decision to move 20 km away to the new office since driving through the city to reach there will take over 80 minutes in the daytime.

“This was an abode - a safe and quiet neighbourhood, schools for our children, a mall and dining out places,” the report quoted an executive who has been with Amazon for six years. "We'll have to look at another house close to the office, as driving from here is ruled out."

The planned relocation is to a building owned by Sattva, part of the Salarpuria group, a Kolkata-based privately-held real estate developer.

Amazon isn't alone in this. Boeing, Infosys, and Foxconn have also started buying up land parcels in Bengaluru's airport corridor. It is still not connected through metro rail, but this could change soon.

This has also raised questions on how the listed real estate developer Brigade Enterprises Ltd which owns the thirty floor building would find a tenant in Amazon's place as the company occupied 18 of those floors earlier.