Logistics firm Delhivery draws out expansion plans; to invest up to Rs 300 crore over 2 years

Logistics firm Delhivery is planning to invest up to Rs 300 crore in 18-24 months on expansion, including increasing fleet size and setting up of trucking hubs, in order to meet increased demand for more organised players in the sector in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, according to a top company official. The company is planning to add around 150 trucks to its fleet apart from launching trucking terminals in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru as it sets eyes on clocking revenue close to Rs 7,000 crore in the next 24 months, up from Rs 2,800 crore last year.

"Our total capital investment over the next 18-24 months is going to be in the range of Rs 250-300 crore. We will continue to invest behind growing our trucking network. We are going to launch three of the largest trucking terminals in the country in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore," Delhivery Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder Sahil Barua told .

The supply chain services firm which started in 2011 will continue to grow its fleet with Volvo and other partners.

"Our own fleet all put together is 300 vehicles. We will expand that to about 400-450 vehicles over the next 18 months," Barua said, adding the company's partner fleets, wherein a large number of other operators work with it, operate with close to 5,000-7,000 vehicles daily.

When asked about the impact of the pandemic, Barua said, from the company's standpoint, the COVID-19 impact does exist.

"The reality is that there has been an increasing shift of companies who want to work now with more organised players in logistics. Earlier the industry was more unorganised. So for companies like Delhivery, we have been able to grow our businesses in this period because more demand has come," he said.

Barua further said,"Currently we are doing about 1.5 million orders a day in our express business. We also handle close to about 3,000 tonnes of cargo a day. That's nearly 50 per cent higher than what we were last year." On the company's revenue growth expectations, he said the company expects to grow at least 35-40 per cent this year. "We did about Rs 2,800 crore of revenue last year. We expect to grow at least 35-40 per cent this year. At this point we are trending higher than that but we will end up around 40 per cent higher than last year. We expect to reach cose to Rs 6,000-7,000 crore of revenue in the next 24 months," Barua said.

He also said Delhivery is "an extremely well-capitalised company" to meet its investment requirements considering the backing of its investors, which include the Canadian Pension Plan and Soft Bank, among others.

Source: https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/logistics-firm-delhivery-draws-out-expansion-plans-to-invest-up-to-rs-300-crore-over-2-years/story/413757.html