Mumbaiite plans to crack trucking market

Murtaza Hamid, 40, who was employed at a prominent telecom company till recently, announced an aggregation portal,  sastabhada.com, last week, though it was started in April. The firm has so far spent Rs 1.5 crore on research and developing technology. His is a website that bridges the gap between customers and transporters, a logistics aggregation portal.

"But my website is not like the others," says Hamid. While others offer their own fares, sastabhada gives customers a list of transporters. The transporters list their fares and the customer decides how much he wants to pay. While most firms need you to pay for the return fare, including fuel, sastabhada, finds trucks going to your destination.
 

"Let us assume you are shipping your goods to Delhi. Now, transporters will charge you for a truck to go to Delhi and then return empty. We will find a vehicle that has come from Delhi, so you will get a lower rate and the transporter monetises both legs of a journey. Win-win, really," he said.

For this effort, he charges the transporters a monthly fee. He claims that his service will mean end-users paying up to 27 per cent less.

Hamid uses a GPS-free technology to track the trucks. When asked how he plans to track the 12,500 trucks and 5,000 transporters already registered on his system, he said, "We have developed software that can trace the location of a vehicle based on its registration number, engine number and other electronic parts [engine control unit] which can be tracked via a satellite."

He insisted that GPS is expensive to buy and costly to maintain.

"Almost 90 per cent of these truck drivers don't use smartphones. Ask them to use these phones, and most of them won't charge them. It is not possible to force them, especially when they are transporting goods worth crores of rupees over hundreds of kilometers. If they want to steal, they will turn smartphones off. How do you track them after that?" he asks.

This startup has tied up with Ebullience Tech, a software firm that developed the technology.

But most trucks hardly have "modern technology" that can be tracked by satellite. "We register only trucks that are fit for the road. We know everything about the trucks, the drivers and the transporter. We have everything on file," he said.

Cracking this highly unorganized and cartelised sector has not been easy. "Truckers don't want to be tracked; some transporters want this to go away. Why? Almost 85 per cent of the business is held by 15 per cent of the transporters. I am trying to spread the wealth. No one likes that," he said. "I was forcefully detained by people who wanted a piece of my technology. I can't tell you how I got out. But I did." He didn't approach the police with a complaint.

He even has tie-ups with oil companies, tyre manufacturers and vehicle lube companies for similar sops. "A trucker never has to pay money at a fuel station. He gets there, enters his vehicle number and  a one-time password is sent to his phone, he keys it in, the transporter's account is debited. Cashless and safe," he said. This, he said, helped transporters register on his portal and pay his fee.

He explained that he was currently the only one targeting SMEs and infrastructure companies. "While everyone is chasing customers, I have already inked a deal with a Delhi-based listed infrastructure company that has a market capitalisation of Rs 50,000 crore. We will announce the deal soon," he said.

He doesn't want fancy branding but is planning to go on a marketing and promotion blitz in the next few months. "The deal will help pay for it and it won't make too much of a dent," he said.