DHL Express bets big on SME sector

The small and medium enterprise segment already contributes 45-50% of the logistics company's India business

Logistics service provider DHL Express India (P) Ltd, which services over 200 small and medium enterprise (SME) clusters, is moving aggressively to increase the share of business contributed by the SME segment. It is going direct to newer markets each year to improve efficiency and transit time, offering 'easy to deal with' products like SME prepaid card services and value-added services like insurance and packaging.

The SME segment already contributes 45-50 per cent of the logistics company's India business, and this segment is growing at 25-30 per cent a year, RS Subramanian, DHL Express India's senior vice-president and managing director, told Business Standard.

"Hence, we are continuously expanding our ambit of services and the service centre network to cover most of these clusters to bring down our turnaround time. This orientation has really helped us grow our SME customer base radically in the last few years," said Subramanian.

The company had built up its infrastructure and presence in all SME clusters across the country over the past 35 years, he said, adding that the effort was to enhance its offering in clusters that required attention due to rapid growth or industrialisation.

"In the last 12 months we have focused on 8-10 clusters to improve our service offering, connectivity, transit time, infrastructure and core capabilities. We are going direct in newer markets each year to improve efficiency and transit time. We now offer many 'easy to deal with' products such as SME prepaid card services, value-added services like insurance, packaging, etc.," he added.

DHL has also sought to focus on product innovations, to provide customised solutions for various industry verticals, Subramanian said. One particular service provides fast transit time to address 'mission-critical' shipment requirements of customers in sectors like aerospace, automotive, energy, gas, oil, engineering, fashion and manufacturing. Another caters to the requirement of the pharmaceutical and clinical trials industry, through special packaging to ensure that temperature is maintained between two and eight degrees Celsius, Subramanian said.

The company started operations in India in 1979 and services over 60,000 customers in 659 cities. Its customers include large companies, retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, exporters, importers and SMEs.