How has the commercial logistics development sector of India changed in the past year?
The year 2020 has proved beyond doubt the importance of commercial logistics and warehousing in maintaining an uninterrupted supply chain. The focal point of commercial logistics is warehousing, which forms the grid lines of support right from production to consumption by the end user. The pandemic made it imperative to change the earlier existing framework of commercial warehousing and to become furthermore client centric. Technology upgradation, cloud- based data management, warehouse automation were some advancements that added agility and speed in warehousing.
GST implementation initiated consolidation of warehousing across India amongst all industries. The entire supply chain and warehousing has been now integrated to allow consumers with better support, transparency and trust between the warehouses, logistic partners and its clientele.
What innovations have you embraced to keep up with the changing demands?
India has an organized warehousing space of 170 million sq ft as opposed to USA’s warehousing space of 13 billion sq ft space. Apeejay Global Logistics Park is a premier warehousing facility and is a mega e-fulfilment centre with 3.2 million sq ft of warehousing & industrial park spaces catering to diverse business segments including the top e-commerce companies. With a well experienced strategy execution and operations management team, we have the best in class facilities and provide optimal solutions to our clients.
While adapting, innovating and overcoming challenges through the unprecedented disruption due to Covid -19 pandemic, we added 24 x 7 virtual assistance and on call services to our operating model to bring efficacy and meet the demands of our fast-paced e-commerce clients.
Systemized execution and management policies aids in cost effectiveness and best distribution practices. Apeejay Global Logistics Park is a world class warehousing facility and has the best fire and safety systems with first-rate surveillance, broadband connectivity and uninterrupted power supply. As a conscientious environment friendly organisation, we also practice rain water harvesting and fledged garbage segregation to reduce our carbon footprints.
Where do you see the sector going in the next 5 years?
The pace at which the sector is moving forward has helped in creating solutions that are customer centric. In the next 5 years we see a lot of fresh investment happening which will also help in further consolidation besides entry of new players in tier II and III cities catering to the burgeoning warehousing needs. Vertical racking with stacking in high racks will be a preferred option while cold storage, temperature controlled facilities and multi-level warehouses will be in demand.
Efficiency in facility management will be the driving force and adoption of newer technologies will provide expedient solutions across varied industries which will continue to push themselves for extended productivity. Statistics say that per capita consumption of organized warehouse in India is 0.02 sq ft per person as opposed to 0.84 sq ft per person on an average in the developed countries like UK, USA and Australia. The numbers indicate a definitive and potential growth of almost 10 times in the next 5 years with process driven technologies, extensive supply chain automation, hyper-efficient robot and drone technologies.
