Future of warehouse will optimally leverage technology for better data insights, market research, and client requisite oriented automated capacity planning.

– Hemant Prabhu

Chief Operating Officer, Greenbase Industrial & Logistics Platform (A Hiranandani subsidiary)

According to you, what are the key growth drivers for the logistics sector in India?

An unprecedented push towards slew of infrastructure development in the country is predominant for spurring economic growth. Roads, metro rails, warehouses, ports, and dedicated transit corridors, form an integral part of the development blueprint. The incentivizing schemes like Make in India and Production Linked Incentive have nudged a better performance of core sectors like manufacturing, automobile, cement, steel, pharmaceuticals, solar and wind energy, etc in addition to the ecommerce boom. China plus one policy for the global giants will have a rippling effect on Indian warehousing demand pegged to grow at 16% CAGR in the next five years. Additionally, bolstering of export volumes and establishment of the last mile connectivity will fuel the demand in the logistics sector.

In the post Covid ensuing era, digital adoption harnessed by automation, cloud computing and data analytics have acted as the new growth catalyst. Traditional markets have transformed into an open e-market place which have accelerated growth of e-commerce business. This nudges brick-and-mortar business to leverage the omnipresence channels for garnering upward sales velocity.

On-demand warehousing is another emerging trend, witnessed to accommodate short bound seasonal peak which in turn shall create additional demand with greater warehouse flexibility. This shall empower companies with flexibly designed warehouses to seamlessly monetize an unutilized space during lull market cycles.

With digitization becoming the buzz word in the logistics industry and rapid surge in the demand for adoption of advanced technology, how are you gearing up to meet the demand and add value to your clients?

The dearth for contact-less business model post covid crisis, has fostered tech-driven integration of logistics platforms and marketplace. This enables industry players to conduct end-to-end virtual trade in a digitally safe ecosystem. Digital tools like AI, ML, IOT will foster the need of automated tech-integration into the new-age business model. This will be a gamechanger to revolutionize rules of the game.

Market and Customer relevance is imperative in this dynamic economic scenario, which function is essential for every industry player to survive in such a competitive age.

At Greenbase a Hiranandani Group led Industrial and Logistics Platform, innovation and technology forms the core of business growth strategies. We are agnostics and equally agile in tech adoption to cater our esteemed clientele in an efficient and effective manner. To ensure robust supply-chain management, an automated process and data intelligence plays a crucial role in warehouse designing. We believe in customer value proposition by ensuring ease of operations in a tech-driven holistic environment

What is your take on warehousing/logistical equipment becoming smarter and how have you been a game changer in this sector?

Warehousing sector is on the cusp of a tech revolution. Integrating smart solution technology will facilitate efficient delivery with quick turn around time. This enhances the project viability and streamlines supply-chains bottlenecks.

Future of warehouse will optimally leverage technology for better data insights, market research, client requisite oriented automated capacity planning. This will minimize the error probabilities and have an advantage of optimized space utilization, translating into a healthier bottom line.

New technology in the form of advanced sortation systems is being plugged in by some market players who deem fit to scale their operation volumes. Greenbase is also subsequently working to integrate many such smart technologies in our warehouses planned spanning across India. This offers Greenbase platform a cutting edge to cater an end-to-end service for accomplishing its ‘Customer Delight’ value proposition. 

Work-Live-Play is the philosophy we are following at Greenbase which consists of blue collar housing, white collar housing & premium housing for CXOs. Social infrastructure and amenities  in the form of hospitals, ATMs, banks & schools shall form an integral part at our Integrated Industrial and Logistics Parks. We believe in providing a complete and sustainable ecosystem for our clients which we believe shall enhance efficiency, lower attrition, reduce costs and help to improve our country’s logistics index.

What are the blockages curbing growth of the logistics industry? What are the crucial areas of concern?

‘Ease of Doing Business’ is an ultimate objective for any sector to accord phenomenal growth. Single window approval and timely permits will be a game changer to bring a paradigm shift in the logistics sector. Arresting any downtime can boost cost -effectiveness and help in quick deliverables which is imperative for the sector’s growth performance.

The Logistic industry is referred to as ‘Backbone of Supply Chain Economy’ to connect B2B or B2C business players. Hence, it is significant to flag off some of the painstaking issues like transportation roadblocks, cargo freight issues, shortage of raw materials, and sluggish tech migration. Also, delays in the regulatory approvals for land & development permissions, soaring rising fuel cost, higher GST rates, and last mile infrastructure connectivity casting its shadow on growth velocity.

As a well-established player, we demand an immediate intervention by high level authorities and the relevant ministry to simplify some of the low hanging measures. This itself will stimulate proportional increase in growth rate.

How do you see your business scaling over the next five years?

Greenbase Industrial & Logistics Park currently has active parks in Chennai, Pune, Bhiwandi, Nashik, and Durgapur in Kolkata with a total developmental potential of approximately 12 million sqft. We are looking to scale our operations bandwidth to upto 30 million sqft in the next 5 years with an additional land bank being actively scouted to be added to our portfolio bank.

The portfolio expansion will see a good mix of footprint spread across tier 2 &3 cities. This is fuelled by potential demand steaming up due to strong emergence of the E-commerce sector as well as reverse migration on the back of remote work culture brewing up in a new normal scenario. 

At Greenbase, we are also very bullish about the In-City warehousing trend, where we are aggressively setting our footnote in the metro centres. In the age of Insta world, where instant delivery model is warming up, the In-City dark stores concept shall accord to ever evolving customer habits and preferences.

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