The new positions are open across 11 locations including Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad.

Amazon India on Sunday said that it has opened close to 20,000 seasonal employment opportunities in its customer service organisation. Most of the positions are part of the firm’s virtual customer service programme that provides work from home options.

The new positions are open across 11 locations including Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad.

The announcement comes a little over a month after Amazon created nearly 50,000 temporary job opportunities in the country across its fulfilment and delivery networks.

As coronavirus cases are surging in the country, consumers are increasingly resorting to online shopping to meet their consumption needs. After e-commerce firms resumed full operations in the country, companies registered a spike in consumer search for products like electronic items, home appliances, casual wear and other work-from-home enablers.

Launch of sale events by online firms may be an indicator of significant consumer demand. Amazon recently concluded a seven-day sale.

The creation of the fresh job roles come amidst expectations of a continued rise in demand going forward.

“We estimate that customer traffic will further scale up over the next six months with the onset of Indian and global holiday seasons,” said Akshay Prabhu, director at customer service, Amazon India.

Based on the candidates’ performance as well as business needs, a percentage of the present temporary positions are likely to be converted into permanent positions towards the end of the year, the company said.

Earlier this year, Jeff Bezos-led Amazon had announced that it plans to create 1 million new jobs in India by 2025 through continued investments in technology, infrastructure and its logistics network. Amazon’s investments have enabled nearly 700,000 jobs over the past seven years in India.