Tci Plans Offices Overseas

Transportation and logistics company, Transport Corporation of India (TCI), is looking at spreading its network abroad. The company plans to open its offices in China, Pakistan, Maldives, Singapore and Sri Lanka soon, to handle India-bound cargo. "The office in China should be operational later in the year," TCI executive director Vinnet Agarwal told Business Standard.

Earlier in the year, XPS, the express cargo division of TCI, had signed an agreement with Skysea Freight International, a division of the ETA Ascon group of Dubai to facilitate distribution of air cargo to and from West Asia. Prior to that, XPS had signed an agreement with the Enem Omni group of Bangladesh to facilitate the distribution of time-bound express cargo.

Explaining the reason for the overseas thrust, Agarwal said this was to hedge the company's business against a domestic slowdown. "The growing trade between these countries and India holds tremendous opportunities for us. With the lifting of quantitative restrictions on 715 items, imports to India are expected to grow substantially," he said.

In three years, Agarawal said, TCI would clock a turnover of almost Rs 1,000 crore, compared with the current turnover of Rs 499 crore, and almost 10 per cent of this would be contributed by the overseas offices.TCI services over 3,000 destinations in the country through a network of 800 company-owned offices. Apart from the transport and XPS division, TCI also provides total logistics solutions to companies through its division Logitra and coastal cargo movement through TCI Seaways.

TCI also has a 49:51 joint venture with Mitsui of Japan, named Transsystem Logistics International Ltd, which provides logistics solutions to Toyota Kirloskar Motor. According to Agarwal, the joint venture company is looking at getting into similar agreement with other automobile producers in the country. "At present, companies deal with a score of transporters. There is a cost attached to it. We are telling companies that we can handle it entirely on our own," he said.

TCI has a fleet of over 750 carriers, but it hires trucks from other operators to meet the demand. "We always have over 8,000 carriers on the road," Agarwal said. The company clocked a turnover of Rs 499 crore for 2000-01 compared with Rs 436 crore in 1999-2000. The net profit grew by 16 per cent during the period from Rs 6.51 crore to Rs 7.55 crore.