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As Flipkart gets land for fulfilment centre, Amazon may follow suit
After a six-month holdup, the allotment of 140 acres to e-commerce company Flipkart for setting up its fulfilment centre in Gurugram’s warehousing and transport hub at Patli Hazipur, Manesar, by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) has opened avenues for e-commerce giant Amazon
After a six-month holdup, the allotment of 140 acres to e-commerce company Flipkart for setting up its fulfilment centre in Gurugram’s warehousing and transport hub at Patli Hazipur, Manesar, by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) has opened avenues for e-commerce giant Amazon. Officials said they had already held a few rounds of discussion with Amazon and certain other e-commerce companies who evinced interest in buying such sites.
After allotment to Flipkart, the corporation has about 60 acres of land in two disjointed chunks at Patli Hazipur left for sale.
The site to Flipkart was allotted at ₹3.22 crore per acre at bare shell cost, thereby meaning HSIIDC would not provide either external or internal infrastructure for the site and creating it would be the responsibility of the allottee. Only infrastructure development charges which included cost of development of major infrastructure project like the KMP-e-way, which is next to this site, has been levied, officials said.
Flipkart was originally allotted 140 acres in October last year but the handing over was delayed following objections by industries and commerce minister Dushyant Chautala who wanted the corporation to explore a better price for the prime site, initially allotted at ₹3.09 crore per acre at bare shell cost.
The Haryana Enterprise Promotion Board (HEPB) headed by chief minister then asked the corporation to put a few more similarly situated warehousing sites for e-auction to explore the market. Four warehousing sites of comparatively smaller sizes were put up for auction, but there was zero response. Subsequently, the HEPB approved the allotment to Flipkart on Tuesday but at a slightly higher rate.
“The problems in the Flipkart created a bit of confusion. But we had a series of interaction with Amazon team, and they have evinced interest in buying 40-acre land, adjacent to the Flipkart site,’’ said a top official.
HSIIDC officials said that the Patli Hazipur chunk of land was at a prime location. It is located close to KMP expressway and Gurugram-Pataudi road. Thus, it’s ideal for companies who wanted to have better connectivity for movement of goods from warehouses to destination cities
“Normally, companies wanted to set up warehousing space look for change of land use mode where they get the site at about ₹2 crore per acre. But bigger players like Flipkart and Amazon don’t mind spending more for such sites which are comparatively expensive but strategically situated. The KMP e-way is a mere five-minute drive away from this site,’’ an official said.
