The nascent Indian warehousing industry is looking to achieve substantial growth supported by the existing and proposed government policies. Industry captains share their views and vision about the industry.
The potential is enormous when you look from a macro perspective. In India only about 20 per cent of organisations look at warehousing services from a supply chain point of view, whereas globally the average is over 60 per cent. With India crossing a trillion dollar economy in terms of size, the Indian warehousing industry is looking at least multibillion dollar potential in terms of growth. Also since our country is moving towards a manufacturing push, the overall market size will also increase drastically. GST implementation will also make it strategically mandatory for companies to have professionally managed warehousing in its logistics value chain.
V Balaji, Chief Operating Officer, Allcargo´s Contract Logistics
CRWC is taking innovative measures to maximise asset utilisation and ensuring quality of service to maintain its leadership in the market in providing logistics services to customers. Emphasis will be given on strengthening systems and procedures at its terminals and enhancing efficiency. With a view to enhancing its product port folio and customer base, CRWC has initiated various plans to set up/operate warehouses and logistic parks in association with other agencies, such as IWAI, IFFCO, DFC, through joint ventures/strategic alliances. Construction of a liquid cargo terminal at Kandla and warehousing facility at Dahej are on the cards. CRWC will also seek to provide multimodal transportation and logistics services to its potential users. CRWC is opening new vistas in the field of logistics by venturing into multimodal logistics services in association with Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI). The company has taken on lease from IWAI the facility of warehousing alongside the railway siding at Guwahati.
KU Thankachen, MD, CRWC
The warehousing industry in India is mainly driven by tax benefits. Instead of pure economics or operational efficiency, it is the tax avoidance mechanism that is driving the segment. India is at a very early or primitive space in terms of quality of warehousing; IT benefits because there are very few warehousing spaces that are IT-enabled. Rest are all brick and mortar storage spaces. The major determining factor that will affect the warehousing segment in the country, the location preference would be GST. We are hoping to see larger warehouses with sophisticated information technology systems, Warehousing Management Systems (WMS) etc., that are not feasible in smaller and scattered warehouses.
Dr Samantak Das, Chief Economist & Head of Research, Knight Frank India
It is estimated that the market size of agricultural warehousing space is at Rs 58-60 billion in 2012-13. Demand for agricultural warehousing is expected to post a CAGR of 5-6 per cent over 2012-13 to 2015-16, reaching 0.61 billion sq ft. For the successful implementation of the Food Security Bill, the government needs a strong warehousing system at major consumption centres.
Aditya Bafna, Executive Director, Shree Shubham Logistics
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