DHL Supply Chain (DHL), the global market leader for contract logistics solutions, announced an investment of EUR 500 million in India over the next five years to significantly grow its warehousing capacity, workforce and sustainability initiatives in the country.
With this investment, DHL will own and operate wholly-owned large multi-client sites in India, adding 12 mn sq ft of warehousing space to the Group’s existing portfolio.
The increased warehousing capacity is targeted to effectively cater to growing sectors such as e-commerce, retail, consumer, life sciences, technology, engineering and manufacturing as well as automotive.
These warehouses will be enabled with accelerated digital technology solutions including Assisted Picking Robots, Indoor Robotic Transport, Intelligent Process Automation, Wearable Devices, Voice Picking, Inventory Management Robots and Algorithmic Optimizations.
“Despite the current, economic and geopolitical uncertainties in the world, we see enormous growth potential in the Asia Pacific region, with India making a significant contribution. As a dynamic, stable and fast-growing economy, the Indian nation plays a key role for the global economy. Its investment-friendly and entrepreneurial environment makes India a preferred place for Deutsche Post DHL Group to even accelerate its investments. 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.
DHL Supply Chain India will add 12 mn sq ft of capacity in wholly-owned DHL multi-client sites in key metro cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, National Capital Region (NCR) and Pune.
These cities are among the top contributors to India’s overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Furthermore, multi-client sites are being built in the fast-growing state capitals and tier 2 cities such as Ambala, Baddi, Cochin, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Sanand, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Indore, Lucknow, Bhubaneshwar, Hosur, and Visakhapatnam.
DHL Supply Chain India will also open two new Business Support Centers (BSC) in Bangalore and Pune within the next 12-18 months to support customer demand. Currently, the company runs three Business Support Centers (BSC) at Mumbai, Gurgaon and Chennai.
These BSCs provide 24x7 value-added services including domestic and international Transport Control Towers, Business Analytics to support decision-making, Freight Bill Audit Payment (FBAP), Order to Cash (O2C), LLP Control Towers and similar support services to its customers in India and across the globe.
Vikas Anand, Managing Director, DHL Supply Chain India Pvt. Ltd said, “Building up large multi-client sites with efficient end-to-end transport solutions along with value-added services run by highly skilled employees allows us to maximize operational efficiency and puts us in a strong position to scale according to what our customers need, across various sectors. As one of the best places to work in India, we will continue to invest in our people, to deliver the best service quality to our customers.”
