Logistics firm founded by 13-year-old city boy targets Rs 100 cr revenue by 2020

Tilak Mehta is like any other teenager. The 13-year-old attends a suburban school studying in Class VIII, and rues about his father coming home from work late and tired.

But the similarities stop there. Tilak is a budding entrepreneur who has founded a logistics startup, sold the idea to a banker and convinced him to quit the job and join him as the chief executive, and, also roped in the famed Dabbawalas of the city to help him with the last mile distribution.

“Last year, I wanted a few books from another end of the city urgently. My father came home tired after a day’s work, and so I could not ask him and there was nowhere to go,” Tilak told reporters here.

This is where the idea of having a startup dedicated to carrying papers and small parcels within the megapolis for assured intra-day delivery struck him. The idea was presented to his father Vishal and he came out convinced that this needs to be pursued.

His father is the chief executive of Rushabh Sealink, a logistics company that would have helped. But Tilak went through the grind, researching the concept and running a beta for four months before formally launching it on Wednesday.

“Papers N Parcels (PNP) is my dream and I will work to ensure that the business becomes big,” the boy beamed.

PNP uses a dedicated mobile application for business and already employs 200 on its own and 300 Dabbawala partners, through whom it is handling up to 1,200 deliveries daily. Any customer can log on to the app and place an order for a consignment. Same-day delivery is assured if the order comes in before 1430 hrs and the customer gets to see real-time updates on the movement of the parcel, including who is handling it.PNP has a defined area of operation connected by the city's famed train network, with a central hub at Dadar in central Mumbai. It handles parcels of up to 3 kg and charges Rs 40-180 per parcel depending on the weight. The initial capital for setting up the operations and developing the mobile app has come from Rushabh Sealink.