Alibaba’s India Expansion Plan: New 3221 Sq Feet Office In BKC, Mumbai, Right Next To Amazon’s Office

Alibaba’s Indian expansion plan is now all out in the open. And going by the aggressiveness of the location choice and the size of the office, it is clear that they are in here for a longer haul.

As per reports coming in, Alibaba is open their new office in the business district of Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. Spread over 3221 square feet, Alibaba will pay a little more than Rs 1 crore as monthly rent for this office space.

And the surprise: Amazon India’s office is located in the same location.

Does this mean that Alibaba is actually taking on Amazon’s might right at the location where they work? Is it a mere coincidence or a deliberate plot to signal the oncoming storm and hurricane of competition?

Realtor Confirms Alibaba’s Plans

The new office of Alibaba in India would be located at Platina building complex, which is owned by Tata-Wadhwa Group in the Bandra Kurla Complex.

And the news has been confirmed by them.

Girish Shah, a director of the The Wadhwa Group said, “They (Alibaba) are one of the most exciting and thriving e-commerce companies that have come to India, and we’re glad to provide them with 3,221 sq ft of a highly professional set-up, at a competitive rental rate, here in BKC,”

As per the reports, Alibaba will pay a monthly rent of Rs 275 per sq feet, which is the normal rental rates there. (the original report by Business Standard is no longer available. Here is a cached version of the story)

Amazon, which has a office in the same location, has a bigger, 30,000 square feet office.

Alibaba’s 1st Office In India?

Some media reports mentions this to be Alibaba’s first office in India. However, as per their website, they already have an office in Mumbai:

However, when we tried to contact this phone number, we found that the number is not working.

As per data filed with the Govt., this is Alibaba’s official registered address in India, and their directors of Alibaba.com India E-commerce Private Limited are Nisha Handa, Mei Ki Cindy Chow Lok, Timothy Alexander Steinert, Jason Pak Tung Yip.

Last year in August, rumors floated that Alibaba is looking for a 20,000 square feet space in Bengaluru.

We have already reported that Paytm is spinning off its ecommerce marketplace business, which will allow Alibaba to smoothly enter the Indian ecommerce market, and grab a percentage of marketshare on Day 1.

Govt. of India has already offered full support for Alibaba’s entry in India.

2017 seems to be an exciting year for Indian ecommerce industry.