Amazon's new fulfilment Centre at Ulberia in Bengal

E-commerce major Amazon India has opened a new fulfilment centre (FC) of 1.2 million cubic feet or 11,300 square feet at Uluberia in Howrah district to meet the growing demand ahead of the festive season, the company said on Wednesday.

The expansion in West Bengal is a part of the company's plans announced in July to add 10 new FCs and expand seven existing sites, across India, the company said in a statement.

This expansion marks a significant increase in Amazon Indias infrastructure in the state, which will now offer a storage capacity of more than 3.4 million cubic feet across five fulfilment centres in the state.

Amazon India has also tripled the storage capacity of an existing specialised fulfilment centre for large appliances and furniture, to more than 6 lakh cubic feet.

This expansion will help the 25,000 sellers in West Bengal offer a wider selection and enable faster deliveries of customer orders within the region and neighbouring states ahead of the upcoming festive season, Amazon said.

"West Bengal is a very important market for us as its strategic location enables us to better serve customers in the region and neighbouring north-eastern states. With this expansion we will be able to support small and medium businesses while creating hundreds of work opportunities for locals in the state," Amazon customer fulfilment operations VP Akhil Saxena said in his reaction.

West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee thanked Amazon for the 'Puja Gift to the people of Bengal and lauded the employment opportunities that would be created by the Fulfillment Centre, the statement said.

The company said a large number of the one lakh new seasonal job opportunity across the country will be generated in the state.