Amazon India is adding 50 Ashray centres across the country for gig delivery workers ahead of the festival season, taking the total number of dedicated rest stops to 200 and expanding its mobile Ashray vans to Bengaluru.
The company said the new centres are intended to provide delivery drivers with access to rest and basic facilities during their workday as a seasonal increase in deliveries puts additional pressure on last-mile operations. The expansion will take the network to 200 centres, while Amazon plans to reach 250 centres by the end of 2026.
“With the festival season driving a sharp increase in deliveries, it’s more important than ever that drivers across the industry have access to rest on their routes,” Salim R Memon, Director-Operations, Amazon India, said, according to The Hindu BusinessLine. Memon said the Ashray programme was designed to provide a clean and cool place to rest for every delivery driver, regardless of whether they deliver for Amazon.
The centres offer air-conditioned seating, drinking water, mobile charging points, clean washrooms, first-aid kits and resting space. Each facility can accommodate 10 to 15 people at a time and provides free access for up to 30 minutes per visit. The centres also include parking and operate throughout the year from 9 am to 7 pm.
Amazon said the facilities are located at high-footfall sites such as petrol pumps and commercial spaces and are listed on Google Maps. The operating model places the rest stops along delivery routes rather than within a single corporate premises, allowing drivers to access them during active workdays.
The company has also expanded its mobile Ashray vans to Bengaluru, making it the fourth city in the programme after Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The vans provide air-conditioned seating, drinking water, free Wi-Fi and mobile-phone charging facilities along high-footfall delivery routes. Two mobile Ashray vans were earlier flagged off in Bengaluru in the presence of Sandy Gordon, Vice-President, Employee Experience and Relations, Amazon, and Brendan Branon, Vice-President of North America Employee Relations.
Amazon launched the Ashray centres in Delhi-NCR in 2024 and said the initiative has since scaled into one of the largest delivery-driver welfare programmes of its kind in India. The company has linked the latest expansion to its broader investment of more than ₹2,800 crore in 2026 for associate safety, health and financial well-being across its operations network.
For Indian cities, the programme reflects the growing importance of rest, sanitation and route-side facilities in the delivery economy. Delivery workers spend much of their working day moving through public and commercial spaces, but the available infrastructure along those routes is uneven. The new centres and vans are intended to address that operational gap during a period when delivery volumes are expected to rise. Amazon’s next stated milestone is to expand the Ashray network to 250 centres by the end of 2026.