IWL may tie-up with e-commerce players to facilitate last-mile connectivity

Having entered into third-party logistics space, by providing end-to-end solutions to its clients, starting from sourcing of raw materials to delivery of finished products to distributors, Kolkata-based Inland World Logistics (IWL), part of the Rs 2,200-crore Inland group, is now planning to tie up with e-commerce players to facilitate last-mile connectivity to customers.

“IWL is currently not involved with any e-commerce company, but yes, going forward IWL will definitely add the services to ensure its focus of last-mile delivery to all set of customers is achieved," Praveen Somani, director, IWL told Business Standard.

The company has a pan-India presence, with service offerings from domestic consolidated cargo to project logistics. Road transportation is a major vertical of IWL, contributing more than 85 per cent in revenue.  At present, the company has 357 warehouses (1 million square feet area) across major cities such as Hyderabad, Calcutta, Delhi, Nagpur and Raipur.

In order to further strengthen its presence, the company has plans to invest Rs 400 crore to set up logistics park and CFS near Mumbai, Chennai and Gujarat.

The company is working on a logistics park at Ahmedabad as well as Bhiwandi (Maharashtra) currently, and post the necessary clearance, has been identifying assets in Southern India as well as Northern India. It is planning to build CFSs close to port. At present, it has plans to build two CFSs – one near Mundra Port and another near Krishnapatnam Port.

“The reason for choosing the locations is with respect to current industry setup, the requirement as these are the current gateways for import and export in India. The proposed capacity for our CFS is 8,000-10,000 containers based on the total land clearances as well as necessary approvals from various government agencies, “ he added.  

On being asked about funding, he added,“IWL has been able to self fund through its own reserves, however moving forward IWL would like to partner with logistics growth focused private equity companies as well as necessary debt to move it forward.”

The company has been growing by almost 14-19 per cent for the past three years. It looks to achieve the same growth in the current year, where the overall industry has been pressed hard due to recessionary position.

IWL achieved a top line of Rs 772 crores last financial year and looks to achieve a top line of Rs 920 crores in the current financial year.