Category Archives: Supply Chain

Mahindra Logistics Ltd. (MLL), one of India’s largest Third-Party Logistics (3PL) solution providers, has announced its acquisition of a majority stake in ZipZap Logistics Private Limited, a last-mile logistics service provider operating under its brand ‘Whizzard’. The recent acquisition complements MLL’s existing last-mile delivery business and EDeL, its Electric Vehicle (EV) based delivery services. Looking to expand technology-based last-mile services as an integral part of MLL’s growth strategy, this transaction will help accelerate the addition of technology, geographical coverage, and operational capabilities of MLL. Whizzard operates an intra-city distribution network for digital commerce and last-mile delivery. The Hyderabad-based company currently enables seamless handling of 60 million packages per year, across diverse segments. In the last three years, Whizzard, which is led by a strong founding team of Ankit Madhania and Arun Rao, has grown 10X and has been serving customers with its full-stack digital capabilities and micro-distribution centers catering to 3000+ pin codes. “Last-Mile Delivery & Fulfilment continues to see strong tailwinds with increased digital adoption, expanding delivery networks, and the onset of quick commerce. This association will enhance and strengthen our existing presence for our customers in e-commerce and other segments. The Whizzard team has built deep capabilities and delivered strong growth to date. We look forward to building the association together and providing customers integrated solutions”. sid, Rampraveen Swaminathan, MD & CEO, Mahindra Logistics Limited

As the crisis takes a turn for the worse, and the Russian military waiting at the borders threatening Ukraine finally invades, the agri supply chains get disrupted, adversely affecting many countries. Traders from the vital Black Sea region particularly Russia and Ukraine, which are also known as the crop heavyweights have denied the supply of Wheat to several countries. While Russia accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s wheat exports, Ukraine supplies 10 percent, data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations showed. Egypt, which is one of the prime importers of Wheat among the many Middle East and North African nations, has canceled a previous tender after only receiving one offer of French wheat and has now scheduled a new one. While old orders are being met, new deals are denied as traders are staying away from Russian grains and exporters are unable to agree to contracts at the moment as they fear they will not be able to fulfill them as the situation evolves. In addition to this, Ukraine and Russia are also major producers of corn, sunflower seed oil, barley, and rye, and much of Europe depends on it. The two nations jointly account for about 80 percent of the world’s sunflower oil exports and 19 percent of world corn supplies.

Tata Steel,has shipped nearly 1,800 tonnes of finished steel products from Haldia Port in West Bengal to Pandu Port in Assam using the Indo-Bangaldesh Protocol (IBP) route via Brahmaputra River. This shipment of Tata Steel’s TMT bars – that arrived at Haldia on rail before being loaded on to river barges – marks the beginning of the use of multimodal logistics, a landmark effort to decarbonise the steel sector and the country. Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and AYUSH, Sarbananda Sonowal, said “that this maiden voyage showcases multimodal movement of cargo by harnessing the power of the river-sea combination for transportation.” The Minister urged other stakeholders to move in the same direction and commit to make it a grand national success. Says Peeyush Gupta, Vice President Supply Chain, Tata Steel, “The Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route will help us service the growing North East market better. This route can also be explored for servicing other locations enroute this waterway to deliver steel in smaller lots and in better condition for the benefit of customers in the North-East. The initiative paves the way for seamless and robust integrated logistics solution towards utilising inland waterways for India and Bangladesh.” As Tata Steel became the first in Indian steel sector to transport products over inland waterways, the IBP route will also help them lower their scope 3 carbon footprint. In July 2021, the Company had also pioneered the use of electric vehicles to move finished goods in select locations.

The Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) are jointly organising the first post-Budget webinar – Creating Synergies for Accelerated Economic Growth’. The Webinar will be a platform for dignitaries, academicians and industry stakeholders to discuss the plans for improving India’s logistics game. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the participants on the GatiShakti masterplan will be on how the Union Budget 2022 is a scaffold for progressing through it. Piyush Goyal, the Minister for Commerce and Industry, will chair the concluding session – which will be a chance for all the stakeholders to give their inputs on the possible strategies that can be applied to achieve the aim. The webinar is to be conducted as 5 simultaneous sessions discussing various aspects of the logistics sector in India With the GatiShakti Masterplan, the government aims to fill the gaps in the existing logistics ecosystem of the country, thereby, improving the logistics infrastructure which ensures a seamless movement of people, goods and services. Better standard and ease of living, ease of doing business, expedited paperwork, faster completion of projects and ultimately, cost efficiencies are a few landmarks that the master plan will achieve while striving for the main goal.

FarEye, a global SaaS platform provider transforming last-mile logistics, today announced several new capabilities for more environmentally sustainable delivery operations, route optimization, and consumer experience. New capabilities across FarEye’s Intelligent Delivery Management Platform are designed to help customers boost delivery efficiency, enable green fleets, and gain visibility into outcomes of sustainability initiatives. “We are partnering with our customers using our optimization and visibility solution to optimize fleets and reduce emissions while delivering delightful experiences to their end customers,” said Suvrat Joshi, chief product officer at FarEye. “In a world shifting towards prioritizing environmental sustainability, we are dedicated to complementing and supporting our customers’ sustainability goals. In 2021, customers that used our platform collectively helped reduce carbon footprint by 40,961 tons. We see this number continue to increase as our customers adopt and use these new capabilities across first, mid, and last mile in their delivery network.” FarEye’s four new sustainability capabilities have been developed to help both shippers and carriers minimize CO2 emissions throughout their logistics operations, addressing end consumers’ desire to have their online orders delivered on time and with minimal or zero carbon emissions.

Shipsy, raises USD 25 million in a Series B round co-led by A91 Partners and Z3 Partners along with existing investors Info Edge and Sequoia Capital India’s Surge. The freshly raised funds will enable the logistics startup to maintain its growing stronghold in the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asian markets while also accelerating the company’s aim of global expansion into Europe and the US. In addition to this, Shipsy will also utilize these funds to drive rapid technological innovation with a greater focus on enhancing logistics sustainability and its AI, ML, and Blockchain capabilities. “We are thrilled to partner with seasoned investors with a common vision to transform the global logistics industry technology. Their continued support strengthens our mission of enabling customers to achieve sustainable business and logistics excellence. It takes us closer to our goal of becoming the de-facto logistics operating system globally,” said Soham Chokshi, CEO and Co-Founder, Shipsy. “Shipsy’s technology offering enables them to be the single partner of choice for enterprises who are transforming their logistics operations. Large category-leading customers have been thrilled at the impact of Shipsy in their operations. We look forward to partnering with them as they become a leader in logistics software,” said Kaushik Anand, Partner at A91 Partners. Shipsy’s growth is driven by its continuous focus on enabling businesses to provide customer transparency, flexibility, and convenience.

Tata Steel has been rated “A” and is listed as 2021 ‘Supplier Engagement Leader’ by CDP, a global environmental non-profit charity, for its initiatives to reduce GHG emissions and tackle climate-change risks across its supply chain. This is the second time in three years that the Company has been included on the Global Leaderboard. Over the last three decades, Tata Steel has made concerted efforts in various areas including supply chain to mitigate climate change and manage climate risks. Tata Steel launched its Responsible Supply Chain Policy in FY20 to encourage supply chain partners to integrate sustainability principles in their decisions and processes. The Company works in collaboration with its supply chain partners towards promoting sustainable business practices for a better planet. Peeyush Gupta, Vice President, Supply Chain, Tata Steel, said: “As part of our vision to be the global steel industry benchmark in value creation and corporate citizenship, we are committed towards climate action and adopting sustainable practices across our value chain. We will continue to engage with our supply chain partners and encourage them to adopt and maintain management practices to improve their energy & resource efficiency and environmental performance. We have also taken several initiatives over the last two years to lower Scope 3 carbon emissions and have plans to significantly reduce our footprint in future.” Sonya Bhonsle, Global Head of Value Chains & Regional Director Corporations, CDP, said: “Our data shows that companies currently have blinkers on when it comes to assessing their indirect impacts and engaging with suppliers to reduce them. Companies must act urgently to cascade action and manage environmental impacts throughout their supply chains to scale the level of action to secure a …

TESSOL, a globally recognized Indian Cold Chain Solution provider that aims to solve the last mile distribution problem in India is all set to raise the bar of Cold Chain solutions in India. The brand had launched a break-through ice-cream and frozen food delivery solution last year, indiWRAPTM which has been extremely successful in helping brands fulfil their promise and reach a wider customer base. Encouraged by the success in ice cream delivery with e-commerce brands, TESSOL has expanded the product range to include other verticals like Gourmet Chocolates, imported fruits, Seafood and Meats as well as Pharmaceutical products. The solution ensures product quality with a 60 min temperature maintenance guarantee in every delivery without using any insulation and this further help brands increase their delivery radius in a simple and cost-effective manner. With insulation, the product can be cost effectively transported up to 72 hours! Commenting on the success of indiWRAPTM, Mr. Rajat Gupta, Founder & CEO, TESSOL said, “We are excited about the success of our PCM based indiWRAPTM in keeping the ice-cream and frozen chilled while maintaining the taste on the go. With the new expanded range, a lot more Brands will be able to benefit from this technology this summer. This will not only increase brand’s bandwidth but further help them gaining their customers trust and confidence.”

With an objective of understand the implications of various changes and amendments in the existing Customs Notifications and Tariff/Duty structure announced by the Union Finance Minister while presenting the Union Budget 2022-23 on February 1, the Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India organised a webinar on the same. The webinar was addressed by eminent Advocate Consultant and also Mentor on Legal matter, empanelled with FFFAI, Joshua Ebenezer provided detailed analysis of the changes/amendments made in the Budget 2022 concerning Customs clearance and tariff. The webinar was also addressed by Shankar Shinde, Chairman; Dushyant Mulani, Chairman Elect; AV Vijayakumar, Immediate Past Chairman; S. Ramakrishna, Past Chairman & Advisor and other office bearers of FFFAI. The webinar was attended by approximately 200 FFFAI members from across the country. Ebenezer analysed the changes and amendments very eloquently and simply with relevant examples for better understanding of the participants. He also made caution about the ambiguities due to self-contradictions betwen different amendments, which according to him, requires further clarifications from the Customs authority. Addressing the gathering, Shankar Shinde thanked all FFFAI Office Bearers, Advisors and members for participating in the webinar. He also appreciated FFFAI members for providing inputs before the Budgeted 2022, which were discussed with the CBIC, Ministry of Finance as pre-Budget discussions. According to the FFFAI Chairman, many of them have been addressed in this Budget and FFFAI would continue the dialogue with the government for further facilitation of Customs clearance as well as foreign trade. Earlier, Dushyant Mulani conveyed that amendments in the Union Budget are always eagerly awaited by Industry. From a customs point of view, it is not only about the changes in tariff but also about …

Increff, a leading Indian Supply Chain SaaS innovator offering inventory optimization solutions for e-commerce, fashion, and retail brands has raised $12 million in its Series B funding round. TVS Capital Funds, Premji Invest, Binny Bansal’s 021 Capital, and 6 existing angels participated in this round. Focusing on expanding its global presence, Increff will utilize the funds for setting up offices and strengthening the local teams in the US and European region. Furthermore, the capital raised will be invested in adding visionary products, and services, to Increff’s portfolio for supply chain optimization. Increff offers a host of SaaS-based industry-agnostic merchandising solutions and smart warehousing solutions. As businesses around the globe begin to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, brands are pinning their hopes on cutting-edge tech solutions to navigate through intense price pressures, inventory mismanagement issues, demand fulfillment challenges, etc. Leveraging intelligent automation tools offered by Increff, brands, and retailers can easily adapt to the ever-changing consumer expectations through algorithm-based merchandise planning, pricing, allocation solutions, and achieve higher inventory accuracy & order fulfillment efficiency with warehousing solutions. Increff is well placed in solving the challenges of the customers for more than 10 retail verticals. Currently, they are market leaders in the fashion space in India and the Middle East and are seeing a growing clientele in the US and Europe.