How the Indian logistics sector is transforming for good in India

by Dynamix Group Writer

From traditional transport communities to full-fledged logistics service providers, The Indian logistics market has come a long way since its inception. With the advent of specialized players in the market, logistics leaders are paying more focus on providing customized services to the players. The concept of third-party logistics (3PL) has introduced the concept of integrated operations, management, warehousing, and transportation in the logistics sector which has made its operations much more agile. An increasing number of managers are targeting to provide more customized services as well.

Increased FDI, market reforms, and growing consumption levels are some of the prime reasons for this sudden boom in the logistics industry. The manufacturing activity in automotive and ancillary products has also increased the demand for pharmaceutical and industrial equipment in the logistics sector. International trade has also increased in the country in the past few years which is why warehouse space for renting Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, and many other cities in India has considerably increased.

Indian warehouse industry heavily dependent upon supply chains, which typically consists of three procedures—transportation, distribution, and warehousing. With intelligent planning supply chains in India can be made much more agile and its costs can be cut down to a large extent.

The classification of supply chains in India has always been easy but with the emergence of cold chains, container freight stations (CFS) and ICDs, the classification has become a bit complex. Let’s explore various supply chain a market in the warehouse industry.

Public Warehouse: These warehouses are controlled by the Government of India and used by cooperatives societies and private entities to store goods. Generally, these kinds of goods are used for the general public. Public warehouses are rented out against a certain amount of fee.

Private Warehouse: Private warehouses are owned by private entities or a group of people who hold a license to regulate a particular space. These warehouses are flexible and customized according to the placement and storage of the area.

Bonded Warehouse: Such warehouses came into the existence to financially support young entrepreneurs, exporters, and importers. The bonded warehouses work on the terms of customs duties and managed by the Government of India and private parties.

Government warehouse: These warehouses are collectively managed by public and central authorities. It typically consists of CWC, SWC, and FCI. They are typically maintained by both government and private organizations.

Cooperative warehouses: Co-operative societies own, manage, and supervise these warehouses. These warehouses are maintained at a much cheaper rate. Some typical example of these warehouses are CFS (Container freight stations) and inland container depots (ICDs). Here are some common functions that happen in these warehouses are:

Dispatching of goods
Loading and unloading
Stuffing and de-stuffing the containers
The temporary storage of cargo and containers
Repairing and management of containers
Refrigeration

Cold storage

It is a temperature-controlled storage space, which is typically used in industries like agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, and dairy. Aggregation, sorting, and pre-cooling are the key activities involved in the cold storage warehouse.
Cold storage systems were invented to solve the problem of wastage of agriculture goods. This market is mainly dominated by private players, though; the government has also provided various incentives in tax and duties to encourage cold chain players in our country. The cold storage market is most likely to boom in the coming years and targets major global.