Amazon News: Retail Giant Opens Its Largest Worldwide Facility In India

E-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) on Wednesday opened up its largest worldwide facility in Hyderabad, India, as the company continues to expand globally. The 1.8 million-square-foot campus is set to house over 15,000 employees.

"The investment to create an office of this size indicates that we are going to continue to grow," Amazon India country manager Amit Agarwal said.

The deal comes as Amazon's major competitor, Walmart, is also trying to dominate the Indian e-commerce market. Walmart bought India's biggest startup, electronics retail company Flipkart, for $16 billion in 2018.

Amazon is currently in negotiations to get a 10% stake in Indian conglomerate Future Retail, which has department stores that sell various consumer and household products.

Although Walmart and Amazon are both trying to break into the e-commerce market in India, the country is still dominated by mom and pop convenience stores and small physical retailers. "E-commerce is so small in India relative to the total consumption, less than 3%," Amazon's Agarwal said.

According to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), India "is the fastest-growing market for the e-commerce sector, with revenue expected to increase from $39 billion in 2017 to $120 billion in 2020, growing at an annual rate of 51%, the highest in the world."

Amazon, which started operations in 2003 in India, already has 62,000 employees in the world's second-most populated country.

Amazon is the largest e-commerce retailer in the world, while Walmart is the largest physical retailer globally. Walmart is trying to catch up to Amazon in both the global and domestic e-commerce markets.

Walmart's online U.S. sales have increased by 40% last year, due to the company's online grocery business.