‘Reloading’ the freight logistics industry

iLoads is the brand under which White Data Systems India (WDSI) Pvt Ltd offers logistics solutions. The company is strategically associated with Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Ltd, the financial service arm of the Murugappa Group, one of India’s leading business conglomerates. Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Ltd is the top investor in iLoads with 65 per cent stake. Talking about the inception of the app is Vellesh Narayanan, CEO & Managing Director, iLoads, who along with Vellayan Lakshmanan, Executive Director, are the promoters of WDSI Ltd, which is headquartered in Chennai. 

Vellesh says, “I had come back from the US in 2007 and decided to join the family business, which is into manufacturing. I was able to take control of most of the divisions in the manufacturing business except for the logistics. I could not understand the fluctuating freight rates and was concerned of the quality of trucks employed. And once our goods were loaded on the trucks and deployed, we had no idea of tracking its current location or even when the truck was actually reaching its intended destination.” The major challenge Vellesh saw ahead of him was to streamline the largely fragmented and unorganised Indian Trucking industry. He goes on to say, “The trucking business in India is fragmented. More than 70% of the country’s fleet is owned by truck owners who own five or less trucks each. 

Less than 10% of fleet operators own 15 or more trucks. With iLoads, which we developed in April 2015, our goal is to build a seamless virtual network of the key stakeholders (load providers, logistics agents, brokers and transporters) in the road freight and transport sector. Down the line, we hope to reach a milestone of having 10,000 trucks in our system and 1 lakh trucks by the end of 2020. Asset Light being our key mantra, we are pushing for aggressive expansion to about 10 hubs by April 2017.”

The app is aimed at driving tech innovation to solve bandwidth issues and bridging the gaps in logistical capabilities in the road freight and transport sector. iLoads has additional operational facilities in Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Mumbai, Kochi, Hyderabad and Delhi for transporting goods from these hubs. At present, the country’s logistics industry is worth $300 billion, according to the study ‘Logistics Market in India 20152020’ by market researcher Novonous. 

The Indian logistics market itself is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 12.17 per cent by 2020 driven by the growth in the manufacturing, retail, FMCG and e-commerce sectors. The promoters of iLoads believe that with logistics forming the base of this phenomenal growth trajectory, there’s a window of opportunity for the company to set benchmarks through its innovative and integrated solutions.