DHL Supply Chain set to invest 500-mn euro in India

Mumbai: Contract logistics provider DHL Supply Chain will invest 500-million Euro (around Rs 4,000 crore) in India over the next five years to expand its warehousing capacity, workforce and sustainability initiatives.

With this expansion, DHL Supply Chain will add 12 million sq ft of warehousing space in its existing portfolio to take its total capacity to about 22-million sq ft by 2026, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The company will add this 12-million square feet of capacity in wholly-owned DHL multi-client sites in key metro cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, NCR and Pune, to cater to growing sectors such as e-commerce, retail, consumer, manufacturing as well as automotive. Moreover, multi-client sites are being built in the fast-growing state capitals and tier-2 cities such as Baddi, Cochin, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Sanand, Indore, Lucknow, Bhubaneshwar, Hosur, and Visakhapatnam, among others.

It also plans to double its workforce in India to around 25,000 people by 2026, and make its entire intra-city fleet into green transport by 2025, the company said. "We take a long-term view in India with businesses here having reasons to be optimistic," said Terry Ryan, CEO, DHL Supply Chain Asia Pacific.

DHL Supply Chain is a part of DPDHL Group of Germany. The company said it will also open two new business support centers (BSC) in Bangalore and Pune within the next 12-18 months to support customer demand. Currently, it runs three such 24X7 centres at Mumbai, Gurgaon and Chennai. "Despite the current, economic and geopolitical uncertainties in the world, we see an enormous growth potential in the Asia Pacific region, with India making a significant contribution. "With a rich pool full of highly-qualified young talents and innovative digital entrepreneurs India is a favourite hub for our global contract logistics business in DHL Supply Chain and one of our priority markets," said Oscar de Bok, CEO, DHL Supply Chain.

Further, DHL Supply Chain is also investing in skill development and resourcing centers with the first such facility already functional in Bangalore with similar plans to set up similar facilities in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata as well. DHL Supply Chain said its SmarTransport division will also leverage its warehouse investments to further accelerate transport growth by providing strategic, scalable solutions to large customers enabling economies of scale with end-to-end service offerings. Building up large multi-client sites with efficient end-to-end transport solutions allows the company to maximize operational efficiency and puts it in a strong position to scale according to what its customers need, across various sectors, said Vikas Anand, Managing Director, DHL Supply Chain India.