Ak ash Bansal Country Head- Logistics

aka sh bansal

Kindly share with us the challenges that you faced during this crisis and how did you cope up with it? There had been challenges, and being a logistics service provider, closure of state borders for a long peri od of time posed a major challenge for us. During the lockdown, different states followed different rules. While few states allowed cargo movement by trucks, few restricted. As the enor mity of the pandemic was huge and the situation was critical, despite the necessary permissions from respective state aut hor it ies, mov i ng cargo to the destina tion was not possible at times. We under stand the challenges of the authorities, and looking at the current An astute professional with diversified experience in managing supply chains and logistics across various industry verticals,

Akash Bansal , Cou ntry He adLogist ics , Om Logist ics

has successfully delivered multifunctional tactical and strategic assignments. In an extensive interview with Ritika Arora Bhola, the expert talks about India's enormous potential to become a manufacturing hub, if methodical and instictive approaches for growth are nurtured.

Safe, seamless and timely cargo delivery is our unwavering focus

situation, supports the decision of closer of the borders.

The government on their part had been supportive in understanding the problems faced by logistics service providers and had continuously been providing solutions for overcoming the same. The responsiveness from the administrating authorities had been great.

Capacity utilisation was another challenge. In the initial period of lock down, the vehicle capacity utilisation was only 10 per cent which is now grad ually improving to an average of 35 to 40 per cent, againt pre-lockdown utilisa tion. This was typical for all organisations, and we can proudly say that we have overcome the challenges.

The only existing challenge which we still see is availability of trained manpower/truck drivers. Millions of immigrants have moved back to their hometowns during the lockdown. We are currently working with lesser man power. I think it will take another two to three months for the situation to nor malise. Wee will then be in a position to say that we have gained back the ade quate manpower.

Now that the operations have been resumed, kindly throw light on the efficient plans and strategies your company has adopted to ensure smooth and safe supply chain operations. We at Om Logistics have been working throughout the lockdown. In the initial two to three months, the only business available was of pharmaceuticals and essential commodities, which as usual we executed with dexterity. Now at this stage, if the government extend us some kind of support or leverage to execute both imports and exports, we can achieve 60 to 70 per cent of the business that we were doing before the lockdown.

Safe, seamless and timely cargo de livery is our unwavering focus. At every point of time, we have plans and strate gies in place for efficient delivery of cargo. During this period, we always ensured that all our vehicles are sani tised at the time of moving in and out from the warehouses. We optimised and improvised the workflow so that the workforce at our warehouses were able to operate seamlessly, and also load and unload the cargo. There had been learn ings during these hard times, which will be incorporated in our work processes as we move forward.

Kindly share your company's mantra/ strategies to grow and sail through this difficult hour. The strategy which we started at Om Logistics for survival and growth in this difficult hour is more dependent on customer interface, as well as traffic within the region. Even if we decide a strategy, it will not work if there is no business, no traffic and no cargo. As such, none of the strategies will work.

But looking at the current market scenario, the need of the hour is govern ment's intervention.

We kept working throughout the lockdown stage, but at about 30-35 per cent of our volumes. Besides, the in crease in fuel prices is another pain factor that is reducing volumes. If we increase cost, when fuel prices go up, it becomes far more difficult for our cus tomers to operate.

We are focussing more on sectors that are running in volumes, viz. phar maceuticals and electronics. Digitalisation is paving its way. Electronic products will be our driving force, while agricultural equipment will see more demand in the coming months. These are some of the verticals we are focus sing on, as we devise strategies. We can create synergy and talk about value. Everybody has gone through this tough time. Practically, we can think about what best we can do in this situation, with adjusting the volumes available. We can create a model where we can communicate the best price for custom er, and that would be one of our strategies for the coming months.

If the government extend us some kind of support or leverage to execute both imports and exports, we can achieve 60 to 70 per cent of the business that we were doing before the lockdown.

Digitalisation is need of the hour, do you agree? How do you think technology can transform the future of the Indian logistics industry? I would say, digitalisation has always been of utmost importance, in a country like India. Technology was there, it was just that we were not adopting digitali sation the way we should have, the speed was very slow.

At Om Logistics, considering the current situation, we are constantly pur

suing our customers to move towards digital models even for billing purposes. We are trying to reduce manual work and aggressively requesting our custom ers to adopt e-billing options. We are all geared up to provide our customers the electronic flow so as to reduce human intervention. Today, customers also un derstand the urgent need for technology adoption and how to cooperate with new work models.

According to reports, considering the current market situation, foreign nations are boycotting China and looking towards India as a potential manufacturing hub and investment destination? What are your views? Yes, definitely, we have got enormous potential in terms of creating synergies for multinationals to come to India, do manufacturing and add value to it. India has an advantage of skilled workforce availability at globally competitive costs, along with large land parcels well con nected by rail and road networks, making the country an ideal choice for setting up a manufacturing bases.

As a nation, we understand busi nesses and processes, and this places us in a pivotal position in attracting multi national organisations to set up their manufacturing bases in India. The In dian government and private companies are working hard in this regard. We are moving in the right direction in becom ing a manufacturing hub for the world at large. This opportunity, in turn, will generate tremendous employment with in the country.