Category Archives: Warehousing

Parag Warerkar, Chairman & Chief Visionary Officer, M.R. Warerkar & Associates Pvt. Ltd. and Chair Technical Committee Warehousing Association of India (WAI) said, “National Logistics Policy paves the way for India to have a fully integrated ecosystem for the development of the Logistics and Warehousing industry. An ecosystem that accounts for accelerated and integrated growth is essential to the Indian economy.” He further added, “For the National Logistics Policy to effectively fulfil its purpose, however, there are some key deterrents that need to be addressed; particularly the issue of land acquisition. Logistics and warehousing hubs need to be an integral part of city and industrial estate development plans. At present, land for large hubs need to be acquired from agricultural holdings and land use converted, causing delays in setting up facilities due to numerous and complicated government approvals. The solutions to be explored are; can the ministry call on the various planning departments to incorporate this suggestion in the development plans for infrastructure development?” “The warehousing market in India is expected to grow to ₹2243.79 billion by 2026, expanding at a CAGR of 10.90%, as per the Warehousing Market in India 2022 Report published by Netscribes (India) Pvt Ltd. Integrating and allocating land and infrastructure will greatly ease the process of setting up logistics and warehousing parks for private players. Accounting for existing issues such as land acquisition will help capitalize on the industry’s growth and ensure the successful implementation of the National Logistics Policy,” said Warekar.

Knight Frank India, in its latest report reckoned that Kochi has a big potential to develop itself as a warehousing market, as indicated by the rise in the transaction volumes in e-commerce and manufacturing segments during FY2022. According to the latest reports, the port city has recorded a warehousing transaction volume of 0.3 million sq ft in the last financial year. Accordoing to the report, Kochi has long been a key centre for warehousing activities, but due to various reasons, including a lack of push from the administrators, the city failed to live up to its potential. Things seem to be changing slowly with Kochi now showing signs to emerge as a hub of warehousing activities. In its ‘India Warehousing Report 2022’, Knight Frank India said industry-split transactions in Kochi showed that a majority of the transaction pie was made up by the e-commerce sector, which had a 32 per cent share of the transactions. Apart from that, the manufacturing industry was the second-most active in the market, contributing 28 per cent of the overall amount of transactions during the course of the year. The state government is also taking steps to promote Kochi as a warehousing centre.

According to a latest report by Colliers, Industrial and warehousing demand in India witnessed a 9 per cent YoY rise during January-September 2022 with a total gross absorption of 17.5 million square across feet in the top-five cities in India. Demand remained resilient during the third quarter as well, at 6.7 mn sq ft, the highest since Q1 2021. “Third-party logistics players (3PLs) remain by far the top occupiers of warehousing space, contributing to over half of the total warehousing demand till date. Improved retail market sentiment amidst festive season and higher online spending continue to support warehousing growth and is expected to add to short-term demand addition,” the report stated. It further added that Delhi-NCR led the demand during YTD 2022 at 39 per cent share, followed by Pune at 21 per cent share in total leasing backed by robust demand from 3PL players, engineering and e-commerce players. Tauru road and Luhari remained the most active micro-markets in Delhi-NCR, while Chakan-Talegaon continued to attract industrial occupiers in Pune.

Stellar Value Chain Solutions has set up 2-million sq. ft of warehousing operations in five new Indian cities including Surat, Nagpur, Indore, Raipur and Patna, said an official release. The new built-to-suit centers will push the company’s warehousing space footprint to 14 million sq. ft. These new warehouses have been set up to meet the rise in demand of the festive season sales in tier II cities. In addition, warehouse and distribution service provider, is also planning to operate warehouses in Lucknow and Vijayawada. This is in line with the company’s goal to create a warehouse infrastructure of 50 million sq ft across India and a fleet of 50,000 trucks.

We recently launched our 100,000 sq. feet multi-client wareousing facility in Bhiwandi and Mumbai and we have plans to expand across key markets in India including Bengaluru and New Delhi, said Deepak Tiwari, COO, KSH Logistics. “Currently, we have over 300,000 sq. ft. of MCF warehousing space with a capacity of over 3000 pallet positions. Over the next 12 months the company plans on expanding its MCF network to 6 cities and take up the total area to 7,00,000 square feet with over 7000 pallet positions,” he added. “In the last couple of years, the awareness and availability of different product categories has increased tremendously due to the growth of ecommerce platforms. Consumers are getting a variety without having to step out of their homes; ease of buying with fast home deliveries has changed the overall buying patterns. This growth is not only reflective in major towns and cities but is also growing across Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. These are in fact the potential cities for ecommerce business. To meet this growth in demand, we have operations (Dedicated & Multi Client) at Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, Jaipur, Nashik, and Chennai. We serve varied customer segment like FMCD, FMCG, Automotive, Industrials, General Merchandise, and Retail, Home Furnishing and E-commerce,” Tiwari further informed.

CABT Logistics is gearing up to manage the heavy inflow of orders for its clients during the festive season by investing INR 4,68,00000 in its distribution and warehousing facilities. Catering to industry behemoths like Flipkart, Amazon, Meesho, Purplle, Ferns and Petals et al, CABT Logistics has planned an investment of around INR 4,68,00000. CABT Logistics has set up 78 facilities like distribution hubs and sorting hubs pan India for its clients. Each hub is around 3000 sq ft in area and equipped with the means to handle monumental order volumes. The company has massively ramped up capacity services across India by adding around 10,000 more rider partners to an already huge network of 15,000+ active partners. This count is expected to cross 25,000 during peak season. Currently, the company is handling around 20 lakhs orders per day and this number is expected to reach 30 lakhs orders per day during the ongoing festivities.

GEODIS has completed the acquisition of American company ‘Need It Now Delivers’ following the regulatory approvals. According to an official release, “The acquisition significantly expands GEODIS’s U.S. presence in the areas of contract logistics and last mile delivery and strengthens its end-to-end freight network domestically and internationally.” Based in Keasbey, New Jersey, the company operates a freight network with a strong presence in the East including over 65 company locations and more than 300 interconnected distribution points. “The completion of the acquisition will accelerate our continued growth in the U.S., which has become an essential market for GEODIS as we remain committed to building a fully integrated network of transport and logistics hubs globally. This acquisition allows GEODIS to expand our offerings in a consolidating market and solidify our position as one of the world’s top 10 leading logistics providers,” said Marie-Christine Lombard, CEO, GEODIS.

According to the fourth LEADS (Logistics Ease Across Different States) 2022 report unveiled by the Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal recently, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat are among the 15 States and Union Territories categorised as achievers in the logistics index chart 2022. The index is an indicator of the efficiency of logistical services necessary for promoting exports and economic growth. “Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Puducherry, Sikkim and Tripura are the other States categorised as fast movers in the ranking. The 15 States and UTs ranked in the aspirers category include Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Ladakh, Nagaland, Jammu and Kashmir, and Arunachal Pradesh. The other States and UTs which are in the achievers category include Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand,” the report stated. The report ranks the States on the basis of their logistics ecosystem, highlights the key logistics-related challenges faced by the stakeholders and includes suggestive recommendations. The index aims at enhancing the focus on improving logistics performance across states which is essential for improving the country’s trade and reducing transaction cost.

Warehousing activities in the national capital will soon become operational round the clock as the Delhi government has issued a draft notification in this regard and invited suggestions and objections on the move from the stakeholders within 15 days from the publication of the notice. According to official reports, the move comes after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena last week approved applications of more than 300 establishments, including online shopping and delivery shops, hotels, restaurants, and transport facilities and warehouses to operate round the clock. He also stressed on the inordinate delay, adhocism, randomness and unjustified discretion on part of the labour department in disposing of applications made by the firms for these exemptions. Delhi labour department also recently uploaded a draft notification exempting warehouses from sections 15 and 16 of Delhi Shops and Establishment Act 1954 which will pave the way for round-the-clock operation of such establishments.

Arif A Siddiqui, Vice President, Warehousing Association of India (WAI) and Founder & Director Coign Consulting shares his views on the National Logistics Policy, he says, “National Logistics Policy will help to develop a technologically enabled, integrated, cost efficient, resilient, sustainable and trusted logistics ecosystem in the country for accelerated and inclusive growth.” He adds, “This vision will be achieved by integrating the modes of transport, optimizing and utilizing logistics infrastructure, standardizing processes and service quality, modernizing technology and upgradation of infrastructure and formalization to reduce fragmentation in the sector. This will reduce cost of logistics in the country, improve Logistics Performance Index (LPI) and create data driven decision support mechanism for an efficient logistics ecosystem. One of the strategies close to me for achieving the above objectives will be to enable the development of comprehensive world class warehouse infrastructure that will facilitate the improvement in efficiency, productivity and service quality by standardization of specifications and use of technology, automation and digitization of the operations. On the other hand development of a robust framework for logistics parks to streamline approval processes to facilitate investments.”