Last Mile is not the Last Resort

The Last Mile Delivery segment is undergoing rapid transformation, driven by the convergence of consumer demands, technological innovations, and sustainability imperatives. As the industry continues to evolve, companies that adapt to these trends and leverage cutting-edge technologies are poised to gain a competitive edge and deliver unparalleled customer experiences. Our Special Report this time explores the various facets of Last Mile Delivery and the reassuring thought provoking insights by the leading user company and the last mile delivery service providers validates the changing paradigms of last mile delivery in India.

How do you think technology has changed customer expectations?

Anirban Sanyal, Sr GM – Supply Chain & National Logistics, Century Ply: In most consumer-facing business, the moment a company engages with a customer is when the customer is either won or lost. There is a growing premium on responsiveness once a customer has logged an engagement request: the days when one would get back to a prospective consumer by the end of the day is history; if Century Ply has not responded within a minute, the opportunity to make an impression (and hence win a consumer) is lost. This can only be achieved through digital technology, which enhances the consumer experience.

There are four legs of the company’s digital backbone – Transport Management System, Sales Force Automation, digital supply chain and the S4 Hana architecture. The complement of these technologies is transforming Century Ply and preparing it for the next orbit. This ensures that the building blocks of the company are being progressively digitalized, translating into a greater clarity on ordering, inventory measurement, sales generation, moving products from factories to shelves and lastly, recording the business nitty-gritty to create a vast data mountain that makes it possible to decode data leading to informed decision making. This represents a loop: an understanding of various functions converging into an enhanced understanding of consumer realities. The result is that today’s Century Ply is responding quicker to ground realities. This is translating into enhanced market share and rank.

Prasanna Salvi, Head – Channels, Emerging Markets and SME, Blue Dart: Omnichannel work stands at the forefront of rapidly evolving consumer experiences. The advent of modern retail formats in India, transitioning swiftly from brick-and-mortar stores to e-commerce, has exposed consumers to a diverse range of unique experiences, accentuated further by the challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. This shift in consumer behaviour highlights the need to differentiate between user experience and customer experience.

In the B2C realm, where customers interact with us, the user often assumes the role of the decision-maker, underscoring the importance of both User (shopper) experience and Customer experience. These interactions shape how individuals engage with services provided by us.

Seamless integration with backend technologies like Application Programming Interface (API) and the streamlined handling of customer activities, such as vendor management (formerly based on price or perception), now require visually appealing dashboards that cater to decision-makers, notably Supply Chain Managers in client organizations, aligning with their business sense. Modern technological advancements have generated a spectrum of solutions tailored to diverse customer categories, aligning with their specific requirements. We've developed unique solutions for decision-makers such as CFOs and SCM Heads, distinct from those crafted for Factory Managers within client organizations, acknowledging their roles as influencers, decision-makers, users, and buyers.

Implementing training programs and real-time alerts for our Pickup Operations staff and Delivery teams has not only enhanced customer experience but has also contributed significantly to achieving our clients' risk reduction objectives. At Blue Dart, while we leverage technology to enhance experiences, our unwavering focus remains on fulfilling our core goals: being the Provider of Choice, Employer of Choice, and Investment of Choice. Consequently, we meticulously evaluate our expenditures through a consciously customer-centric lens.

What are the challenges in setting up network in tier II & III cities? How did you manage them?

Anirban Sanyal: When you have a voluminous product to be dispatched, it is a wafer-thin margin business. It is cost to service. We have three different lines of business – plywood, laminates and MDF. For plywood, we use the milk run route and we are managing the deliveries on our own. For laminates, we are investing on the packaging technology because that’s more of an aesthetic product. During transit, if the packaging is robust, it will not damage the product. We are using the bus service to transport products in many tier II & III cities. We are present pan-India through a distribution network of 3,848 trade partners, spread across 28 states and 7 UTs.

With vast network of channel partners spread across the country, being catered from respective RDCs, across location for Deco vertical, it had become dire need for reduction in TAT. Increasing competition in the markets across, triggered requirement of availability of material at different RDC locations in full against placed orders and added to the above-mentioned cause. At the same time, space, and size of the RDCs remain unchanged, as the same locations have been in use to cater to both peak and low requirements in the market. Furthermore, increasing space is a costly affair subject to management approval. Service Level is another tangent, which couldn’t be ignored at the same point in time.

Faster replenishment to different RDCs, from single manufacturing plant location can only be achieved, if TAT and/or components of TAT are lowered. Highest operational efficiency had been touched for the components of TAT and further scope of improvement for those seemed very bleak.

How did we manage? Cost to serve is an increasing challenge for all supply chain functions. To address or reduce the same, Century Ply identified an innovative way to save cost and increase service level. It’s been identified that there is a need / possibility of direct delivery from manufacturing plants to dealer / project site and we were serving those orders in smaller load from regional warehouses in multiple deliveries, resulting in dual handling and freight cost as the dealers were not willing to invest in bulk purchases.

We worked out threshold value for sharing the savings with the dealers in case they lift big load direct from plant. Success of this project majorly depends on the channel partners, as they have to place large lot of orders. Benefits, in terms of additional discount, have been passed on to the channel partners to drive this project successfully. By encouraging direct delivery to channel partners, from manufacturing plants, we have been able to achieve higher business volume with lot of large orders; economies of scale for freight, by using higher capacity vehicles for dispatch; and savings on other operational costs compared to delivery through secondary locations, e.g., Handling & Secondary Freight.

Besides, we offered customized services and a quick turnaround of equipment to minimize inventory build-up in one location. We upskilled our employees on the latest tools to enhance efficiency. We established a task force group to plan, control and monitor the movement of goods to ensure that cargo is delivered seamlessly to customers. We eliminated empty miles (non-revenue miles) by implementing tighter yard planning and management to enhance operational efficiency.

Prasanna Salvi: Revolutionizing Networks in Bharat's Tier II and Tier III towns has posed a longstanding challenge, a challenge that Blue Dart was the first to tackle head-on. Our solution came in the form of the ground-breaking Emerging Market Program, aptly named RISE, which stands for "Revenue Increase from SMEs and Emerging Markets."

During this transformative journey, a fundamental question emerged: WHY DO WE WANT TO MOVE TO BHARAT? This question became our guiding light, shaping every subsequent action and aligning our endeavours seamlessly. At the heart of our initiative lies our DHL group Mission: Connective People. Improving Lives. This mission serves as the bedrock of the RISE program. While we effortlessly connect shipments of clients in bustling metropolises and Tier-1 towns to smaller markets, our RISE program aspires to go further. It aspires to bridge the gap between dreams and reality for every businessman in Bharat. We are dedicated to ensuring that their aspirations of connecting their products with markets spanning across India and the globe are not just dreams but tangible successes.

In this pursuit, we engage in a perpetual experiment, delicately balancing the scale of Service Quality with the complexities of Cost Efficiency. Within the framework of this challenge, we navigate the decision-making landscape: should it be a Capex decision, grounded in fixed costs, or an Opex solution, inherently flexible in nature? This delicate balance, encompassing financial prudence and exceptional service, is the cornerstone of our strategy.

It is our commitment, vision, and the unwavering belief in the transformative power of connecting people that drives us forward. Through the RISE program, we are not just expanding our reach; we are facilitating dreams, enhancing lives, and fostering a network that binds Bharat to the world, one connection at a time. Our approach is clear: we aim to engage with entrepreneurs in even the smallest Bharat towns, nurturing their growth alongside the expansion of their communities.

What is your strategy to leverage the potential of tier II & III towns?

Anirban Sanyal: We launched our Distribution Management System, which tracks consumer sales – what they purchased, where they purchased, when they purchased and with what other products they purchased – leading to deeper market insights that has empowered us to plan better. We deepened our data science capability, which made it possible for us to derive a deeper marketplace understanding and use that information to market focused to specific audience groups, strengthening the effectiveness of our brand spending. We launched a Central Distribution Centre that enhanced the serviceability of our laminates business, reflected in quicker dispatches, lower systemic inventories, and better return on employed capital for the Company and primary customer (trade partner).

Prasanna Salvi: The digital revolution, affordable data, and smartphones have bridged the gap between urban India and emerging towns Bharat. This transformation is evident in the proliferation of e-commerce platforms, which now serve almost all PIN codes in the country, breaking geographic, linguistic, and social barriers. This shift has significantly benefited both buyers and sellers. Government initiatives like Make in India and Vocal for Local have further fueled this growth, leading to increased logistics demands in smaller towns. Supply chain management in this context has become crucial, with a focus on supply chain processes, digital supply chain, supply chain trends, supply chain challenges, and supply chain innovation. Logistics management has also evolved, leveraging technology in supply chain management and embracing innovation in supply chain management. This has resulted in logistics innovations that are reshaping the industry.

Blue Dart is well-equipped to meet these needs and operates in diverse locations such as Saifai in Uttar Pradesh, Dhar Kalan in Punjab, Ani in Himachal Pradesh, Balua in Bihar, Zunheboto Sadar in Nagaland, Haflong in Assam, Khammam in Telangana, Sringeri in Karnataka, Manamelkudi in Tamil Nadu, Vadali in Gujarat, Quepem in Goa, Sonhat in Chhattisgarh, and Ashti in Maharashtra, among many others. We have dedicated and specialized infrastructure to handle shipments, from documents to charter loads of aircraft. Our fleet includes 6 Boeing 757 freighters, with 2 Boeing 737 aircraft (to be inducted soon), and 12,000+ on-ground vehicles. Additionally, as part of Deutsche Post DHL Group’s DHL eCommerce Solutions division, Blue Dart has access to the largest and most comprehensive express and logistics network worldwide, covering over 220 countries and territories.

Blue Dart's services span the entire country, especially the underserved markets in Bharat, with a focus on customer delight. We recently launched a campaign capturing the wide reach of its services, including in Tier II & III towns of the country. This campaign aligns with our commitment to being 'The Logistics Company of Bharat.' Our ongoing focus remains on being the Provider of Choice for all our customers, across markets.

Through our services, Blue Dart enables effective and efficient operations for SMEs and MSMEs across all PIN codes, collaborating with them to extend their services to even the remotest corners of the country. Blue Dart utilizes API integration-based solutions to enhance manifest exchanges at the most detailed levels, ensuring an automated and seamless supply chain. Teams using this real-time solution can manage nationwide activities, including the first mile, network connection, last-mile delivery, and reverse logistics.

Sheldon D'silva, Regional Sales Head – West, Ecom Express: The past decade belonged to tier I and the metro cities. The decade that we are in and the decade to follow belongs to tier II & III cities. We realized this shift way back in the year 2014 and we envisioned to do things differently and took a strategic decision to expand into these cities. We started building capacities at a time when other players were apprehensive about the market potential. We have always believed in the ‘Bharat’ story. We can see those dividends paying us well today. In order to serve those markets, we took our hubs closer to these markets. We developed the entire network of ecosystem – people, infrastructure, fleet, etc. We piloted the initiative with Haryana. There were initial setbacks, that helped us go back to the drawing board, worked on our shortcomings and test that market again. This whole process made us resilient, and we were able to capture other small towns slowly and steadily. Today we are present in 29 states in the country covering over 27K+ pincodes. This is where the order growth is going to come from in the future. We invested in advance, and we intend to grow in that market further.

We recently launched three new services, Same Day Delivery (SDD), Same Day Delivery+ (SDD+), and Next Day Delivery (NDD) to cater to the growing demands of e-commerce players in India. With the launch of these services, we aim to improve the customer experience by offering faster and more reliable deliveries, thereby increasing their customer base.

One of the major concerns of e-commerce players, especially D2C brands, is faster delivery. The solutions not only enhance the overall customer experience by offering better speed but also increase seller revenue through reduced returns. Ecom Express’s Same Day Delivery (SDD) service aims to address this concern with its key features such as cut-off time of 5 AM and 11 AM for receiving the orders, guaranteed same-day delivery in key cities, and customized cut-offs as per the requirements of customers.

Ecom Express’ SDD+ is designed for high selling SKUs, which are kept and fulfilled through micro-fulfillment centers placed within cities. With a cut-off time as high as 2 PM, the service assures faster parcel deliveries to customers. The Next Day Delivery (NDD) service offered by Ecom Express aims to provide assured delivery for interacity with a cut-off time of 12 PM for the next day. This service highlights improved customer experience, reduced return of goods, and reduced customer acquisition cost, thereby benefitting both the customers and the e-commerce players.

With the growth of e-commerce and D2C ecosystem over the last couple of years, need for faster deliveries across categories such as electronics, beauty and cosmetics, fashion and apparels are emerging as a success enabler for customer experience. Leveraging the needs of the industry, the company had recently launched ExpressPlus, which is a multi-modal shipping product at the back of air transportation and now with these newly launched services have curated a network that seamlessly connects the country’s demand and supply hotspots for a shortened transit time.

How is last mile delivery dependent upon delivery partners & technology and how you see their growth in future?

Prasanna Salvi: In the realm of delivery, especially in Tier II and Tier III towns, the crux of sustenance lies in connecting shipments with individual households rather than businesses. The expansion of marketplaces and e-aggregators into outer pin codes has spurred Bharat's (term used for emerging towns in India) consumption economy. OTT platforms and video-based social media have kindled the aspirations of Bharat, but accessing these markets proves challenging due to the low residential density.

The variable nature of shipments into Bharat demands adaptable costs, achieved through nimble delivery partners rather than a fixed-cost, company-owned delivery model. Technology stands as a key enabler in this scenario. AI and Machine learning enhance address reliability, providing insights like the probability of return behaviour observed at specific addresses. Moreover, these technologies facilitate effortless cash-on-delivery collections and seamless settlements with clients. Innovations like blockchain thwart pilferage, while the Internet of Things capabilities in gadgets instil confidence in customers, especially concerning temperature-controlled shipments to remote pin codes.

Another significant challenge is location accuracy. In India, addresses are typically organized under pin codes linked to delivery post offices. However, these pin codes often cover broad areas, leading to duplicated or incorrect street names. This complicates specifying precise delivery locations, creating a laborious task for delivery agents. Addressing this issue, we've partnered with what3words.

The what3words feature ensures seamless last-mile delivery by pinpointing precise locations within a 3m space, as specified by customers. This technology is ideal for India's intricate and often inaccurate addressing system, guaranteeing deliveries reach the correct location, even in areas with informal addresses. For instance, ///swimmer.kindness.habits designates the what3words location for Blue Dart Head Office in Andheri, Mumbai. By typing these three words on the what3words portal or website, individuals can effortlessly find, share, and navigate to the location from anywhere globally. This technology operates offline and supports 54 languages, including 12 South Asian languages: Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Kannada, Nepali, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Punjabi, and Odia.

Despite these technological advancements, human intervention remains crucial in the last mile. For example, drone delivery, an initiative Blue Dart explored for "Medicines from the air," led by the State Government of Telangana, is still in its developmental phase. Consequently, the last mile still requires a human touch.

Sheldon D'silva: Today technology is playing a completely different role in our lives. We started using technology by investing in sorter machines in order to avoid doing the process manually to save on time and enhance process efficiency. Every company is chasing high quality delivery. To ensure that we are deploying new age technology solutions. Technology is playing a key role in empowering the life of the delivery boy too. Through technology solutions, he is able to navigate the addresses better, the mode of payment, the product mix, etc. We are using geofencing technology to eliminate frauds in the system. We are in the process of developing an App that will help in getting the right address quality to ensure that the deliveries are reaching the accurate address in a time-bound manner. This will dramatically improve the quality of service.

The modern supply chain is becoming digital-oriented and traditional methods are gradually becoming redundant day by day in handling day-to-day logistics operations. New age APIs of artificial intelligence (AI) including network automation, address geo-coding, and data engineering amongst others are effective methods of improving TATs. As we know, the last mile is an essential part of the order fulfillment journey, thus it essential to select a partner who deploys tools/methods for customer address navigation (especially for addresses that are not properly defined), route automation and geo-coded status update by field executives, so order fulfillment service can be maximized. Airway Bill (AWB) based tracking is yet another new-age method that offers better visibility, which ultimately lets you better control over delivery. Moreover, a robust network of fulfillment centers is equally important for impeccable last-mile operations.

Ecom Fulfilment Services (EFS) is powered with automated warehousing, order management and fulfillment center service and the launch of Ecom Magnum will further establish its position as one-partner logistics solution provider to the e-commerce industry.

How do you see the growth of delivery boys on the back of technology and where do you see that going forward?

Prasanna Salvi: Blue Dart is deeply committed to its people. Our success in creating smiles on our customers' faces hinges on the well-being of our delivery agents. To nurture this, we've made significant investments, such as providing them with specially designed uniforms that instil a profound sense of pride as BLUE DARTERS. Moreover, we've instituted a special program to aid our employees and their families during trying times. In the unfortunate event of an employee losing their life while on duty, each team member contributes a day's salary to a corpus fund. While this support cannot fill the void, it provides substantial assistance when it's needed the most.

Although drones and automated delivery methods are on the horizon for the last mile, we anticipate a continued necessity for human intervention in the mid to long term. These interventions must focus on reducing overall logistics costs before they can be widely adopted. Our unwavering dedication to our employees remains at the heart of our endeavours.

What is your strategy to capture Bharat?

Anirban Sanyal: India is likely to remain among the two fastest growing major economies. The real estate sector is expected to emerge as the principal beneficiary of India’s economy growth story. By the virtue of being the largest interior wood products company, Century Ply is attractively placed to address the national growth story. We have three key strategies. The first is to be truthful. Secondly, we believe in being realistically time bound. Last strategy is ensuring traceability from order till final delivery.

In today’s world, digital supremacy will define the winner, India is growing exponentially in its digital literacy both conventional and unconventional way and we are going to be highest smartphone user in the next couple of years. In such scenario, real-time visibility is most important in terms of product availability, commitment to delivery, traceability and above all sustainability to ensure a happy customer. We do realize the power of a happy customer as they bring back single-digit referred customer and one unhappy customer takes away three-digit potential customers.

Sheldon D'silva: As an industry leader, we are constantly working to bring more value to small and medium sellers in a cost-effective manner and are proud to bring state-of-the-art WMS and OMS system built on usage experience and learnings from 100K+ sellers who engage with us. With this new platform, we are trying to remove the pain points for small sellers in the standard OMS and WMS available in the market by offering a feature-rich ecosystem. To fulfil the orders seamlessly, we provide sellers with a one-stop order-to-deliver set-up resulting in scale, efficiency, and control over both their inventory and customer experience.

Ecom Express has been actively catalysing towards simplifying the SMB e-commerce companies’ journey. The company recently launched ExpressPlus as air dominant multi-modal logistics solution for faster transit time users in D2C and SMB space. Last year, the company announced that it is in an advanced stage of integration with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and had launched its easy sign up portal, E-zippie, thereby making the sellers’ journey easy, convenient, and rewarding with 30-minutes onboarding.

We are comfortably placed to service Bharat and our clients across the spectrum, be it large or small. We want to offer both – the sellers and the buyers – the same customer service experience that a tier I city enjoys. We intend to expand and grow into other geographies where we are still not present. We intend to help our customers through the technology platform.

Sustainability in last mile delivery is becoming relevant today. What are the sustainable initiatives you are taking in dispatch & delivery?

Anirban Sanyal: At Century Ply, we are committed to environment friendly processes that minimize the use of resources (materials, space, talent, fuels, and energy) while maximizing efficiency. Achieving more with less is essential to enhanced sustainability. Our environment management approach has comprised the 5Rs approach – a commitment to reduce consumption, restore the environment through greening, recycle waste, enhance the use of renewable energy, and replace material-intensive products with alternatives marked by lower carbon footprint.

Century Ply focused on minimising energy usage by implementing energy-saving technologies. Century Ply reduced electricity consumption through several measures, comprising the implementation of variable frequency drives and change in stoker design in laminate thermic fluid heater for better heat utilization. The company installed a higher capacity vacuum pump with a pressure switch, reducing machine running hours. These eco-friendly alternatives were used to replace air conditioning and lights, resulting in significant electricity savings.

Century Ply invested in alternative energy sources like renewable energy. The company generated power from solar panels and integrated it into its energy mix. The proportion of energy appetite addressed through captively generated renewable energy was 13%, with 8.78 MW dedicated to renewable energy.

We have implemented measures to conserve energy and water resources. We minimized emissions and pollutants discharged through a proactive investment in pollution control technologies (EV delivery vans). These EV delivery vans are expected to significantly reduce carbon emissions by 17-30% compared to traditional petrol or diesel delivery vehicles. The company implemented 24x7 monitoring of stack particulate matter emissions to ensure a compliance with environmental regulations. Century Ply set up five charging units at its Joka plant. Century Ply plans to extend its EV delivery vans from Kolkata to across the country.

The company is positioning itself as a clean and green plywood manufacturer with investments in renewable energy and electric vehicles transportation. It also comprised 8.8 MW captive rooftop solar power plant resulting in annual CO2 savings of 8,624 MT.

If there is a singular challenge that needs to be addressed by the Indian plywood industry it is this: that far from being environment-unfriendly, the industry is the most environment-friendly with the lowest carbon footprint among interior infrastructure alternatives.

The principal argument that the plywood sector has had to address in the last few decades is that its source material – wood – depletes forest cover. On the contrary, forest timber felling has been banned in India for nearly a quarter of a century. Responsible players like Century Ply address wood resource requirements from non-forest plantations.

There are several realities that have enhanced the role and importance of non-forest plantations in consistent wood supply. Non-forest plantations are outside the perimeter of forests and do not deplete forest cover; they are promoted on farmlands (often waste). They empower farmers to generate a superior return.

Century Ply or other plywood manufactures are buying raw materials from agroforestry. In the last five years, the agroforestry has grown by almost 250%. As an organization, we are ensuring that we are sourcing sustainable raw materials. On a quarterly basis, we do a Bermuda triangle analysis. No deliveries are branched by the specifics. It is nearest to the supply point. By doing this, we eliminated approx. 30% of our running kilometers, which also helped in reducing our carbon emissions and our transportation cost. If we don’t adopt something as a process, as a practice or a passion, we can’t survive.

Prasanna Salvi: Sustainability is a focus area for us. DHL Group has pledged to achieve net zero-emissions by 2050. Under our New Sustainability Roadmap, Blue Dart has made significant investments in developing environmentally friendly technology that emphasizes excellence in a sustainable manner. Through our Go Green program, Blue Dart Express has planted over 666,000 trees in the last six years, showcasing our dedication to the environment. Annually, we plant more than 111,000 trees, which, when fully grown, would collectively offset over 13,320 tonnes of CO2 per year. Our flight routes during peak periods are optimized using digital software, ensuring the most efficient routes. Additionally, we have introduced commercial sector planes in our network, all contributing to the sustainable blueprint we are creating. We have also invested in incorporating Electric Vehicles in our fleet, ensuring green first-mile pickups and last-mile deliveries. According to our sustainability roadmap, we plan to reduce our CO2 emissions by offering a comprehensive portfolio of Green Products, maintaining clean operations for climate protection, and as a Group we have committed to electrifying 60% of our last-mile delivery vehicles by 2030.

In a pioneering initiative, Blue Dart has introduced dedicated e-waste recycling bins at select stores, providing customers with a convenient and responsible way to dispose of their electronic waste. By placing these bins in retail outlets, the company takes proactive steps to promote proper e-waste disposal and encourage sustainable practices. These initiatives underscore our unwavering commitment to a greener and more sustainable future.

What are the packaging innovations happening in the segment? How are you scaling up your product innovations capabilities?

Anirban Sanyal: Plywood, as a product, doesn’t have any packaging but for our other products like Laminates, doors, we are using environment-friendly sustainable packaging material as we are using paper sleeves for laminate and corrugated flute paper rolls are used during the final delivery. Our team is constantly innovating on enhancing product safety features during transit like edge cap and mechanized rolling through customized rolling machine for ensuring safe laminate delivery.

Prasanna Salvi: Packaging plays an important role in the realm of logistics solutions, especially for shipments that require innovative packaging techniques. Whether it's temperature-controlled, valuable, liquid, or fragile shipments, they all demand meticulous care and attention.

The future of packaging innovations is expected to focus on:

• Utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT) for real-time monitoring of temperature fluctuations and sensitive movement tracking.
• Adopting reusable packaging for temperature-controlled shipments to reduce costs.
• Embracing sustainable packaging to cater to environmentally conscious customers keen on reducing their carbon footprint.
• Implementing machine learning to auto-suggest documentation based on destination requirements and legal frameworks.

At Blue Dart, our approach involves a detailed and robust vendor selection process. We foster an open-source innovation readiness, engaging in collaborative discussions with vendors to achieve higher-level goals. Innovation and learning from failures are ongoing processes ingrained in Blue Dart's culture, reflecting in initiatives such as ‘The Blue Dart way’ and our DHL group's business excellence program, ‘the First Choice Program’, which form the backbone of our innovation programs.

What are the state governments doing to create preferred industrial hubs and how will it help logistics at large?

Prasanna Salvi: The government has demonstrated exceptional prowess in formulating policies for comprehensive infrastructure development, spanning roadways, railways, internal waterways, and advancing rural electrification through initiatives like Digital India. India's enhanced connectivity is palpable, particularly with the substantial growth in air travel across the country. As India's growth narrative unfolds and entrepreneurs emerge from tier II towns, they require partners capable of facilitating their global expansion.

Each state government is proactively adopting measures to benchmark best practices from other states and optimize national programs within their regions. The opening of inland waterways in the northern part of the country, connecting the Ganges to the Brahmaputra, holds immense potential.

Additionally, State Governments' Industrial Hubs program aims to establish robust local setups, infrastructure, and support structures tailored to specific industry verticals, bolstering the state's competitive advantage. State governments are entrusted with the responsibility of streamlining bureaucratic processes and ensuring easy access for startups, fostering the emergence of more entrepreneurs within their states.

In our federal democracy, a harmonious collaboration between central and state governments significantly enhances the ease of doing business. This collaboration not only benefits major corporate entities but also empowers our young entrepreneurs, making them globally competitive.