M&M launches Uber-style logistic marketplace

SmartShift will connect cargo owners and transporters with an aim of providing time and cost efficient solutions to both parties

Mahindra & Mahindra on Tuesday introduced a digital marketplace for intra-city cargo movers, to connect transporters with end-users, on a platform similar to that used by taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber.

A one-click booking process and the ability to track cargo will be supported by a website and a call centre. M&M, which has been working on this system for a year, will roll out the service first in Mumbai next month. A pan-India roll out is scheduled later.

The tractor and utility vehicle manufacturer launched the initiative under a brand called SmartShift.

Pawan Goenka, executive director, Mahindra & Mahindra, said, “Uberisation has become a dictionary word. People are associating vehicles to means of transport. With our new system, we are looking to connect the load-giver and the load-taker, in a much more organised manner.” The small commercial vehicle (SCV) cargo industry is highly unorganised and fragmented, with inconsistent pricing levels. The new Android-based app will help load-givers receive bids from load-takers.

The 10-member team that worked on SmartShift is also working on adding Hindi as a language option. The service could be extended to iOS platform too, the team said.

The transactions will be restricted to the cash mode for now. Declining to disclose M&M’s investment into the venture and the rate of return, Goenka added, “The income will be the margin we will make on every transaction. In a city like Mumbai, five million transactions a year will be considered as an optimum.”

It is looking at a 29-30 city roll out, covering more than 80 per cent of the SCV cargo industry. For now, the company will focus only on the SCV cargo segment and will take a call on entering the medium and heavy commercial cargo or passenger segment later.

The Mumbai-based conglomerate will float an independent business entity within the group for this business. Seeding funding upto Series-A will be done by the promoter company, after which the entity will be free to source funds from outside, a senior official said.

“For this new venture to be successful, M&M will have to move like a start-up and not like a huge company. This is one of the many start-ups ideas that we will be launched from here on and we will treat ourselves as venture capitalists,” said Anish Shah, group president (strategy), M&M.