Half of Amazon's Hyderabad campus vacant

Hyderabad: Amazon's Hyderabad campus, which is its biggest so far in the world, still has capacity to accommodate 8,000 employees, according to a news report in The New York Times.

This 15-storey campus - three amenity floors and 12 office floors - which opened last year has capacity to accommodate 15,000 employees and currently it is home to 7,000 employees, the report said on Tuesday.

The workforce in this office largely comprise tech teams focused mainly on using machine learning and software development to innovate services.

Sprawling over 9.7 acres, the Hyderabad campus is the online retail giant's biggest when compared to its other offices around the world. Amazon, which has also faced protest from the country's retail industry groups from time to time over concerns of crushing competition, says that the total built-up area of the Hyderabad office when spread out will span over 68 acres - approximately 65 football fields.

The campus contains over 2.5 times more steel than the Eiffel Tower, measured by weight, Amazon earlier said in a blog post.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) which claims to represent seven crore traders and over 40,000 trade associations has time protested against what it describes as deep discounting and unfair means by Amazon and Flipkart, which has impacted the offline traders.

Amazon also faced criticism after it announced the start of Amazon Pharmacy in Bengaluru this month. The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), which claims to represent more than 850,000 members across the country demanded that the government should immediately stop these "illegal online pharmacies".

While retailers suffered during the pandemic, Amazon saw a sharp spike in demand for its services.