Flipkart opens India's largest modern fulfilment centre in West Bengal

The facility was inaugurated (virtually) during the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) 2022 by the chief minister, Mamta Banerjee in presence of Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee, minister of transport and housing Firhad Hakim, principal chief advisor to chief minister, Amit Mitra, and chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi. Located 50 kms from Kolkata, the Big box facility has an integrated supply chain management spread across 110 acres. It will help strengthen the local economy with the availability of stronger supply chain infrastructure to connect thousands of sellers from West Bengal and the North East region with national market access while also catering to growing customer demand. With five million cubic feet of storage spread across six mezzanine levels, the Haringhata fulfilment centre will have a total built-up area of two million square feet. The facility has been designed with state-of-the-art technologies such as automated storage and retrieval, robotic packaging arms, cross belt sorters, and a 9 km long network conveyor belt to reduce turnaround time by 35 per cent-50 per cent in shipments movement, Flipkart said in a media statement.

With system-driven task distribution, automation in storage, process and allocation, this FC has been designed for value creation for the ecosystem of customers and sellers. In a testament to Flipkart’s commitment to building a sustainable supply chain, the Haringhata facility has achieved the unique distinction of being India’s first e-commerce facility to be provisionally certified with a Platinum rating by the Indian Green Buildings Council (IGBC), under the new warehouse category of the IGBC Green Logistics Parks and Warehouses Rating System. The Rating System is a ‘first-of-its-kind and exclusively’ developed framework to address sustainability in logistics parks, warehouses and other storage facilities in the country. It integrates multiple dimensions of sustainability such as reduced carbon emissions, enhanced energy and water savings, rainwater harvesting, resource management, biodiversity protection, optimised lead time, enhanced storage space utilisation, better health and well-being of occupants, and higher productivity of the workforce.

“E-commerce has the power to truly connect every Indian while creating shared value for an ecosystem of sellers, customers, artisans, kiranas and the farmer community. A strong supply chain is a backbone for connecting lakhs of small and large businesses, and as a homegrown e-commerce marketplace, we are committed to investing in infrastructure, technology and talent to unlock this opportunity for the country’s economic growth. The launch of the Haringhata fulfilment centre will further strengthen supply chain infrastructure and is an important milestone in the creation of technology-led modern warehousing infrastructure in the country. We are proud that this is also one of our most sustainable facilities combining the strength of our operations to do good for our people and planet,” Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer, Flipkart, said.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (GK)