$60 bn and rising: India’s warehousing market expected to maintain 10% annual growth over the next decade

India’s warehousing sector is entering a phase of structural growth, driven by the rapid expansion of e-commerce, the emergence of quick commerce, and the shift towards omnichannel fulfillment. The market is already estimated to be around $60 billion and is expected to grow at close to 10% annually over the coming decade as supply chains become more technology-led and distributed across the country, according to Dr. Ashvini Jakhar, Founder and CEO, Prozo.

The Delhi NCR-based company founded in 2014 is redefining how modern supply chains operate in India through its full-stack, tech-enabled platform, serving enterprise clients across FMCG, consumer durables, e-commerce, and other sectors.

In an exclusive interview to Bizz Buzz, Dr. Jakhar, a former Lieutenant Commander in the Indian Navy, said "at Prozo, we see this transformation firsthand. Today, we operate 50+ fulfilment centres across India covering nearly 3 million sq. ft. of warehousing space, supporting 100+ enterprise clients through an industry-agnostic supply chain platform."

He said what is fundamentally changing is how businesses approach fulfilment. Companies no longer want separate infrastructure for each channel—they want one integrated supply chain that can serve D2C, marketplaces, retail, and quick commerce simultaneously. This is where omnichannel fulfilment capabilities and technology-led orchestration become critical.

He pointed out as customer expectations around speed and reliability continue to rise, we believe the demand for organised, technology-enabled warehousing platforms will only accelerate in the coming years.

Prozo operates fulfilment networks across multiple regions in India. Do you see differences in delivery expectations and supply chain challenges between metros, Tier-2, and Tier-3 cities?

From our experience operating fulfilment networks across India, delivery expectations are converging, but execution realities are not. In metros, same day and next day delivery are baseline expectations driven by quick commerce and dense demand clusters. The challenge is operational intensity, tight cut offs, peak volatility, and near zero tolerance for Service-Level Agreement (SLA) failure. Success depends on high throughput, tight process control, and strong coordination between warehousing and last mile rather than simply adding capacity.

In Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, speed expectations are rising but demand density and infrastructure maturity differ significantly. Reliability, cost discipline, and scalable capacity matter more than extreme speed. This is where a 4PL (Fourth-party logistics) model becomes essential. Instead of replicating heavy metro infrastructure, brands need shared regional networks governed through a single control layer. A 4PL enables differentiated network design and sustainable expansion into growth markets without locking into inefficient fixed structures.

With large teams working on the ground in warehouses and last-mile operations, how does Prozo ensure a safe, inclusive, and consistent work environment across locations?

At Prozo, safety and consistency are built into warehouse operations through structured governance, not treated as separate initiatives. Every fulfilment centre operates under standardised SOPs alongside health and safety checks, fire compliance, PPE enforcement, shift discipline, and clear role ownership. Each FC has its own supervisory governance structure to ensure accountability on the floor, while central teams track compliance metrics and operational audits across the network.

We also have a dedicated Safety, Security and Loss Prevention teams that oversee risk management, incident prevention, and asset protection across facilities. Structured onboarding, mandatory training, and clearly defined escalation protocols reduce ambiguity and operational stress, especially during peak volumes. For us, a safe and inclusive warehouse environment is not only a compliance requirement but a core operating principle that directly supports reliability, accuracy, and execution discipline at scale.

Returns and reverse logistics are becoming a major part of e-commerce. How does Prozo manage returned inventory quickly so brands do not lose value?

Returns only destroy value when they are processed slowly or without discipline. At Prozo, reverse logistics is tightly integrated into warehouse operations with clearly defined return SOPs and time-bound SLAs.

Returned inventory is routed back to the originating fulfilment centre, where inspection, grading, and disposition decisions are completed within defined timelines. Our control tower tracks return SLAs in real time and auto generates claim alerts if processing crosses 48 hours, ensuring inventory does not sit idle.

We also use automated processes to match returned items against original dispatch records, reducing wrong product returns and enabling timely claim generation on marketplaces where required. Every return is audited for condition, SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) accuracy, and resale eligibility before being restocked. The focus is simple. The faster a saleable unit is verified and brought back into active inventory, the better we protect working capital and brand margins.

Sustainability is now a focus for many brands. What practical steps has Prozo taken to reduce waste, improve resource use, and keep fulfilment operations cost-efficient?

Sustainability at Prozo is built into the operating model, not added as an overlay. Our shared warehousing structure avoids peak provisioned idle space that dedicated models typically carry, structurally reducing energy consumption.

Through peak capacity pooling and smart lighting retrofits across facilities, we have achieved an estimated annual carbon reduction of nearly 800 tonnes of CO₂ at the warehouse level. All material handling equipment across Prozo controlled facilities is battery operated, further reducing direct fuel exposure within warehouses.

Beyond infrastructure, sustainability is driven by system level efficiency. Our facilities process roughly 240 million units annually, and improvements in slotting, movement optimisation, and throughput per sq ft reduce energy intensity per unit processed. Freight aggregation and intelligent courier allocation improve vehicle utilisation and reduce split shipments. For us, sustainability scales with operational efficiency, meaning carbon intensity declines as utilisation and throughput increase.

Technology is central to Prozo’s pay-per-use model. How do automation, data, and AI help improve delivery speed, accuracy, and planning?

Technology is central to our pay per use model because reliability at scale comes from system led execution, not manual coordination. Prozo’s WMS standardised warehouse execution across locations, covering inbound, putaway, picking, packing, and dispatch with strong process controls and accuracy checks. Our control tower then provides real time visibility into performance metrics like cut offs, SLAs, exceptions, and inventory status so teams across facilities act on the same operating truth.

ProShip strengthens this stack by orchestrating courier allocation, capturing NDR call records, enabling reverse pickup QC visibility, and centralising escalation management. This gives brands tighter control over dispatch, returns, and claims while maintaining speed and compliance across partners.

What differentiates Prozo is integration depth through the control tower. We plug into the systems brands already use, including platforms like Unicommerce and EasyCom, through APIs. This allows unified execution across marketplaces, D2C, B2B, and retail channels without creating multiple data silos. The result is faster processing, fewer errors, and more predictable planning even as channel complexity increases.

Prozo works with both large enterprises and fast-growing digital brands. How do you maintain the same service quality and consumer experience across such a wide client base?

Maintaining consistent service quality across large enterprises and fast growing digital brands comes down to two principles: SLA excellence and cost excellence. While different channels and partners operate with different SLA requirements, governance remains unified.

For warehouse clients, SLAs are defined at an activity and marketplace level. For freight operations, SLAs remain common even if backend execution differs by courier partner. This ensures performance accountability without fragmentation. Every client operates on the same network standards, system controls, and monitoring framework.

What changes is configuration, not execution discipline. Cost excellence is achieved through tech-led operations, shared infrastructure and scalable commercial structures, while SLA excellence is enforced through strict tracking and control tower oversight. This is how we maintain a consistent customer experience across a diverse client base without diluting operational rigor

As consumer demand for faster and more reliable deliveries becomes the norm, what matters most going forward, and how is Prozo preparing for it?

As faster delivery becomes standard, what will matter most is reliability at scale, not headline speed. Consumers are far less tolerant of missed commitments than slightly longer windows, which means supply chains must perform consistently under sustained daily load. The focus is shifting from isolated SLA targets to network stability, visibility, and execution discipline across every node.

Prozo is preparing for this by expanding both physical reach and orchestration depth. Today, our freight network covers over 3 million sq. ft. of operational footprint, supported by 50+ fulfilment centres across India. We are also strengthening our dark store aggregation capabilities to serve high-frequency, hyperlocal demand models more efficiently. This expanding infrastructure allows us to stay closer to demand while reducing transit dependencies.

At the same time, our 4PL orchestration model ensures that scale does not compromise control. We are widening partnerships with regional 3PL players while maintaining a unified control tower layer across the network. Our tech stack includes a robust WMS, built to handle high order volumes across channels. By combining physical expansion with technology-led governance, we ensure that speed is not forced, but becomes the natural outcome of a resilient, fully orchestrated network.

Looking ahead, how do you see India’s fulfilment and logistics ecosystem evolving over the next decade, and what role will platforms like Prozo play?

Over the next decade, India’s fulfilment ecosystem will shift from fragmented execution to integrated orchestration. Brands will no longer manage warehousing, transport, and technology as separate layers because complexity and volatility make that model unscalable. Fulfilment networks will move closer to consumption, with smaller, high velocity nodes supported by stronger national and regional replenishment nodes.

On the logistics side, better multimodal infrastructure and corridor level planning will improve predictability rather than just adding capacity. As this happens, platforms like Prozo will function as the operating layer of the supply chain. Our role will be to design networks, orchestrate order flows, adhere to SLAs, and provide real time visibility under one system. The next phase of fulfilment and logistics will reward reliability, control, and execution discipline, not just scale.