T. A. Krishnan, CEO and Co-founder, Ecom Express Limited shared his expectations from the upcoming budget and said, “The logistics industry is one of the foundations of the Indian economy which has experienced immense growth over the past couple of years. With the improvement of logistics infrastructure and post GST regime, there is a significant growth potential in demand generation and job creation from the industry at a steady pace. The expectations from the budget for the financial year 2023-24 would be to create skilled workforce and related platforms for the logistics and transportation segments. We can expect Budget 2023-24 to be taxpayer payer friendly focusing on maximum disposable benefits. There is a dire need to enhance deduction limit to help lower income group salaried individuals such as gig workers to come out of tax net. The gig workers can also expect the announcement on implementation of social security cover, however, keeping this workforce away from taxation ambit will help build higher disposable income in the hands of a fairly large alternate employment pool in the country. Another much awaited ask from the government, given the global slowdown trends, is to consider Fuel and CNG subsidy or further tax reduction for 2023-24 to provide a trickle-down effect to the consumerism in the country.”

The construction of cargo infrastructure at Noida International Airport is likely to start later this year. NIA will cater to a differentiated catchment and several upcoming industrial clusters in Uttar Pradesh. A multi-modal cargo hub (MMCH) will contribute to the vibrancy of the overall ecosystem. . Christoph Schnellmann, Chief Executive Officer, Noida International Airport told exclusively to us, “We expect the cargo ecosystem at NIA to develop with a focus on e-commerce, electronics, textiles, agri-perishables, and pharmaceuticals. With rising e-commerce demands and the auto market gaining traction, we see volumes back in the bellies of aircraft. This is further affirmed by the increase in aircraft orders by Indian domestic carriers. In addition, domestic carriers like IndiGo have introduced freighters with orders of four A321 P2F aircraft. Blue Dart, a well-established freight carrier, is also adding two additional B737s to their existing fleet. DHL and UPS are poised to increase their capacity in India as well. NIA is developing a multi-modal cargo hub across 80 acres, which will become operational in 2024. This will pave the path for a future cargo hub in India. Employing more efficient infrastructure and technology in this greenfield project and digitalization of manual process and documentation will help to address existing pain points in the market. Predictability in operations will be a key differentiator for NIA.”

Logistics technology creator, Fleet Enable announced today it’s expanding into the air cargo market. The software innovator said its automation platform is being aimed at final-mile carriers delivering shipments imported by air. Fleet Enable said it would enter the market with its namesake software this spring. According to Fleet Enable, its technology would allow motor carriers to automate all aspects of air cargo delivery. Everything from order taking and route planning to invoicing and driver pay could be streamlined, the company said. Fleet Enable is already in use by final-mile carriers delivering ground shipments. “We have identified that there is a need in the air cargo market for a modern automated last-mile software solution, which is efficient and cost-effective.” said Fleet Enable CEO Krishna Vattipalli. “Over the last 12 months we have been developing features and functionality that are unique to the air cargo business.” Fleet Enable said its technology could solve the biggest problems afflicting final-mile carriers of air cargo. Those include cargo tracking and visibility, truck capacity planning and manual shipment routing. Automation would make each task more efficient and less costly, Fleet Enable said.

NASA has selected Boeing to lead the development and flight testing of a full-scale Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) demonstrator airplane, said an official release. “The technologies demonstrated and tested as part of the sustainable flight demonstrator (SFD) programme will inform future designs and could lead to breakthrough aerodynamics and fuel efficiency gains,” the release added. “When combined with expected advancements in propulsion systems, materials and systems architecture, a single-aisle airplane with a TTBW configuration could reduce fuel consumption and emissions up to 30 percent relative to today’s most efficient single-aisle airplanes, depending on the mission. The SFD programme aims to advance the civil aviation industry’s commitment to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 as well as the goals set forth in the White House’s U.S. Aviation Climate Action Plan.”

Blue Dart Express Ltd has launched “Smart Box Lite”, a packaging solution designed to prevent electronics from getting damaged while shipping. This solution is a good match for all business and personal requirements and is intended to deliver laptops, tablets, and iPads, while providing a convenient, secure, and reliable service to customers. Due to its customer centric approach, the company identified the growing demand for electronic shipments across the country. With this product Blue Dart is providing a long-term solution for the problem faced by many. From choosing the right transportation mode to right-sizing the packaging, it is a stress-free solution for electronic shipments. The product is designed to seamlessly accommodate laptops, tablets, and iPads.

Adani Enterprises signed an agreement to launch a pilot project to develop a hydrogen fuel cell electric truck (FCET) for mining logistics and transportation with Ashok Leyland, India, and Ballard Power, Canada. “This collaboration marks Asia’s first planned hydrogen powered mining truck. The demonstration project will be led by AEL, a company focused on both mining operations and developing green hydrogen projects for sourcing, transporting, and building out hydrogen refueling infrastructure,” the company said in a statement. Ballard, an industry leading PEM fuel cell engine manufacturer, will supply the FCmoveTM fuel cell engine for the hydrogen truck and Ashok Leyland, one of the largest manufacturers of buses in the world, will provide the vehicle platform and technical support. The FCET is scheduled to be launched in India in 2023, said an official release.

FM Logistic, has been awarded an end-to-end National DC contract by global fashion brand, United Colors of Benetton to boost its growth in India, FM Logistic will carry out storage and handling operations spread across 1 Lakh sq. ft. at its owned FM Global certified and LEED Gold certified, Grade-A, Multi-Client Facility (MCF) in Farrukhnagar, Haryana. FM Logistic will not only cater to order preparation for UCB’s owned, franchised outlets and other partners, including E-com across India. FM will deploy plug-and-play comprehensive supply chain and IT solutions that will work seamlessly for B2B2C operations. Additionally, FM Logistic will provide value-added services like labelling, repackaging and manage returns & refurbishments. Considering the seasonal nature of the apparel business, FM Logistic is well-equipped to manage the seasonal peaks (which exist for a major part of the year) through a world-class warehouse management system. “We are committed to delivering to our customers the highest standards of safety, compliance, sustainability, conditions of work, quality and operational excellence at competitive costs, We are very thankful to United Colors of Benetton for their trust and long-term partnership. We are eager to support their rapid growth in the country by deploying our sectoral expertise, efficient solutions and technology along with the best warehousing standards in the country. Thus, enabling them to offer the best quality and a large range of products to their end consumers across various distribution channels from one integrated, state-of-the-art and sustainable order fulfilment setup. We are delighted to partner with United Colors of Benetton to manage their fulfilment operations pan India,” said Alexandre Amine Soufiani, MD – FM Logistic India.

Indian air cargo sector has tremendous potential and great future and I don’t want to limit that to only transporting equipment and merchandising but also in terms of Krishi Udan scheme, horticulture, poultry, perishables and fresh foods that need to be moved from one destination to another. We found with Krishi Udan, that from far-flung areas of India actually horticulture, fruits, vegetables are being transported not only domestically but internationally as well to Germany and many other destinations,” said Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, the Minister of Civil Aviation at the 14th International Civil Aviation Conference cum Awards organised by the ASSOCHAM in New Delhi on Wednesday. “So I believe that the potential for cargo is tremendous, the fact that we increased our number of freighters and also the cargo volumes that we transported. It shows that it’s a sector that holds tremendous promise.” “Earlier there were many pain points that were listed of which we have resolved a few. The latest to be resolved was the whole issue of transshipment and the fact that cargo gets checked twice when it’s already been checked at the original destination along with BCAS. We’ve resolved that to a great extent for stakeholders. But I do believe that cargo and industries have tremendous potential in terms of service and airports,” he further added. “I think as far as the scheduled carriers are concerned, there is no restriction, only for the NSOP that is restricted to six ventures and I think the NSOP is a very small share. I don’t think the policy structure in place today restricts the proportion. I think the stakeholders should use bonded warehouses to facilitate ease of doing business. The growth …

Sanjay Sharma, COO, Coldman Logistics shares, “In the last few years government has taken some initiatives in terms of leasing out the logistics industry, introduction of Gati Shakti and National Logistics Policy. This is a step towards easing out the logistics activities but I think cold chain probably would need a little more since it’s still a sunrise industry. The country is facing challenges in terms of having arresting food wastage across. Our expectations from the budget apart from what the government has already done is a little more focused approach towards cold chain because logistics per se is quite a vast kind of a field. So cold chain as such it needs a little more attention in terms of encouraging the multilocation operators. So currently the incentive schemes or the subsidies that revolve around the cold chain are very very confined to individual users. So probably more corporate needs to be involved in some incentives and the subsidies need to be extended to the multi-location operators so that it benefits in terms of setting up the desired infrastructure across. So that would be the prima facie broad objective of our expectations in the upcoming budget.

DroneTech company, TSAW has announced the launch of its logistics arm DRONECO. The startup comes with a vision to recreate the logistics ecosystem by introducing a new and faster mode of transportation i.e., drones. DRONECO will facilitate point-to-point drone transport supply chain logistics services with the primary goal of delivering goods to customers in a timely manner. Backed by its parent drone manufacturing company, TSAW and its cloud-based UAV system DCIS (Drone Cloud Intelligence System), DRONECO intends to be the go-to last-mile logistics facilitator for e-commerce platforms, armed forces, medical suppliers and others. Burdened with multiple constraints, logistics firms have long been experimenting with drones for end-to-end delivery. By bypassing the existing bottlenecks, DRONECO is all geared up to be the thought leader and one-stop solution with the desire to make deliveries economical and swift as well as to provide instant gratification to its clients. TSAW is co-founded by Kishan Tiwari and Rimanshu Pandey who have a stellar track record in the drone logistics segment with the ambition to bridge the gap between cultures and societies. Commenting on the launch of the DRONECO, Kishan Tiwari, Co-Founder & CEO, TSAW said, “There has never been a better time to launch a platform like DRONECO, as India is on its way to becoming a global player in both demand and supply chain. This implies that we have a lucrative market for the application of our wide range of solution portfolios. Our ability to strategize and execute across multiple service lines as well as provide tailored solutions that span the entire drone logistics spectrum will set the industry benchmark. With our proven technological expertise, many reputed enterprises have already shown keen interest by …