Strong resurgence in warehousing
The Indian warehousing industry is being transformed - the new normal entails incorporating the latest developments. With the onslaught of technology and a favourable tax regime, opportunities are there to scale the operations on a multi-location basis, says Sandeep Chadha, Partner & Managing Director of Pragati Warehouster.
Q What solutions you are offering in the logistics and warehousing space?
The changing industrial milieu needs an imperative alteration in perspective, offering a new vision in logistics and warehousing needs. This is all the more important since we are fast entering the circular economy and IR 4.
Pragati is an India-focused warehouse developer cum asset manager headquartered in Gurgaon. With a focus on building, developing and managing industrial and warehousing assets on a pan-India basis, the company is coming from a pedigree wherein it has delivered some marquee warehousing assets in the past and is now poised to exploit its experience in giving a new direction to the vertical in particular and to the industry at large. We are here to serve its clients across the sectors viz. e-commerce, manufacturing, FMCG & retail. It intends to go full-scale with warehousing assets already under execution in NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, Ludhiana, Jaipur and Rajpura.
With its three-pronged strength in construction, leasing and asset management, Pragati aims to establish itself as the preferred partner of choice when it comes to delivering superior
Grade-A warehousing in a Built to Suit framework. Its focus primarily, is to add value to shareholders in a way that maximises the returns on the deployed capital. It has a track record of ensuring good returns to stakeholders while building a portfolio of marquee projects across the locations. Pragati is poised to fully capitalise the opportunity on offer and add value at each step in its stride to become the foremost player in delivering Built to Suit premises for its various clients.
The solutions that we offer to our customers are futuristic and geared to changed needs. We do not follow
the beaten track, but incorporate the latest technological developments as far as possible.
Q According to you what is the new normal in the logistics and warehousing space?
Indian warehousing is going through a transformation. With close to 90 per cent of warehousing falling in unorganised category, there are opportunities galore. There is an unprecedented demand for superior Grade-A warehouses from across the industries led by e-commerce. With the onslaught of technology, and favourable tax regime, opportunities are there to scale the operations on a multilocation basis and provide state-of-theart and globally compliant warehouses.
The new normal essentially is incorporating the latest developments. For example, warehouse labour shortages have long been a thorn in global supply chains, but a new web application developed for innovative organisations could soon change that. A host of issues may force warehouse operations to slow down or grind to a halt, but perhaps the most disruptive of all is dealing with a shortage of warehouse employees.
In times of higher demand, this creates logjams that are tough to break, much less recover from. For businesses, that means both time and resources are wasted. With their first-hand insights into the intricacies of warehousing logistics, we plan a fourmember team set out to put an end to this age-old industry problem. Our warehouse operations personnel can easily facilitate the sharing of manpower among the company’s facilities where there are surges in demand.
Today logistics cost in India accounts for 13-14 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is nearly double (7-9 per cent) the logistics cost to GDP ratio in developed countries such as the US, Hong Kong and France. So, there is an opportunity for incumbents to play a decisive role in bringing down the cost with the judicious use of favourable policies and state-of-the-art technology.
The government’s thrust to the sector such as giving infrastructure status, the ‘Make in India’ programme, ‘Vocal for Local’, development of multimodal transport networks and initiatives to set up industrial corridors like Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), Delhi Kolkata Industrial Corridor and logistics parks have propelled the cause. The introduction to REITs in India has galvanised the sector and the same is poised for a growth momentum. We are now in the midst of a consolidation phase with a lot of tech
Today logistics cost in India accounts for 13-14% of the GDP which is nearly double (7-9%) the logistics cost to GDP ratio in developed countries such as the US, Hong Kong and France. So, there is an opportunity for incumbents to play a decisive role in bringing down the cost with the judicious use of favourable policies and state-of-the-art technology
With its three-pronged strength in construction, leasing and asset management, Pragati aims to establish itself as the preferred partner of choice when it comes to delivering superior Grade-A warehousing in a Built to Suit framework