The Silicon Review ^Asia

In a move to cut down on its carbon footprint,e-commerce platform Flipkart to replace nearly 40 percent of its current fleet of delivery vans with electric vehicles by March 2020. The report was published by Reuters.

“These efforts will help us meaningfully contribute towards electric mobility...while bringing cost efficiencies for the business. In this process, we also hope to create an ecosystem for the adoption of electric mobility in India,” Amitesh Jha, senior vice-president of Ekart and Marketplace at Flipkart, said in a statement.

In a statement dated June 27, the Bangalore-basedcompany said it is working with local partners to co-design concepts for electric vehicles best suited for the growing e-commerce industry.

“We believe these small but meaningful steps in this direction will go a long way in paving the way for larger adoption of electric vehicles in the country,” saidFlipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy.

Flipkart said it will start with deploying 160 vans by 2019-end. Some of these EVs are already plying in the country’s capital of New Delhi.

The electric last-mile delivery vehicles will help cut Flipkart’s carbon emissions by over 50 percent, the company added.

Recently, Walmart, the largest e-commerce giant acquired a controlling stake of 77 percent in Flipkart by investing $16 Billion.

With the deal, India will now have Walmart, Amazon, and Paytm Mall as the key players to compete in the Indian e-commerce market.