Safexpress logistics park banks on textile, auto clusters

Safexpress, a supply chain and logistics company, is planning to invest Rs 1,000 crore over the next five years on logistics parks and other value-added services.

The company is planning to open 32 logistics parks in the next two years, involving an investment of Rs 600 crore, said Vineet Kanaujia, general manager, marketing, Safexpress.

Safexpress would invest Rs 400 crore on manpower development and IT over the next five years, he added.

The funds for the projects would be raised through internal accruals, said Kanaujia.

At the last count, the gross revenue of the company was close to Rs 650 crore, he said, without disclosing further financial details of the company.

This year the company has opened about four logistics parks, including one at Dankuni (on NH-2) in West Bengal. The park will enable loading and unloading of over 75 vehicles simultaneously.

Spread over 1.84 lakh square feet, the park involves an investment of about Rs 25 crore.

“Proximity to the textiles and auto-component industry clusters and other manufacturing units has made Kolkata a major economic centre. Our logistics park is located on NH-2, which is well connected to different parts of the country,” said Kanaujia.

Last month, the company launched similar parks in Gurgaon, Nagpur and Ahmedabad.

“There is a huge growth opportunity for the warehousing business in India. Special economic zones (SEZs) are one of the major driving forces for warehousing business in India.

A large number of upcoming SEZs have necessitated the development of logistics parks for the domestic market as well as for global trade,” said Kanaujia.

The proposed 32 logistics parks would add warehousing space of about five million square feet for the company in the next five years.

Express distribution, third party logistics management and supply chain consultation are the three major areas of operations for the company, at present.

“Safexpress is developing a world-class warehousing in the key cities.

More than a dozen of our logistics Parks are under various stages of development and would be ready within 2009. With phasing out of CST from next year, development of SEZs and FTWZs (free trade warehousing zones) and growth in manufacturing and modernisation of retailing, warehousing will play an ever important role in the Indian supply chain industry," said Kanaujia.