R C Warehousing Pvt Ltd

Deva shi sh Ag rawal

Empire Gro up is a leading player in Indore’s commercial real-estate industry. Over the years, the group has owned great name and fame for being the trusted service provider, with effervesce and accuracy in project offerings that has magnetised resulting in mammoth profits. Today, Indore is becoming the business hub for multinationals and SMEs in central India and the city is in dire need of moderised warehouses and logistics parks with state-of-theart facilities. Dev ashish

Agr awal, Director , Empire Lo gipar k (R C Ware housing Pvt Lt d)

- Empire Group’s latest addition to its breathtaking range of projects, believes they will continue to leverage the group’s good market position to tap emerging opportunities and strengthen offerings by providing even better services and upgrades. Excerpts from his interview with Upamanyu Borah.

We will continue to play a major role in the growing warehousing market in Indore

Could you start by introducing the scope and breadth of your operations to our readers who might be hearing about Empire Group for the first time? Empire Group is one of the esteemed real-estate developers in Indore. Estab lished in 1989, we have set the benchmark through our hassle free and reliable solutions within a short span of time. The fascinating range of our projects includes Empire Residency, Empire Estates, Empire Heritage, and Empire Victoria Park. We have a 360 degree approach to every project which starts from land identification and acquisition, project planning, mar keting and sales, project execution, property services and ends with estate management.

Our product portfolio and services render the hearts of our clients because of their elegance and luxurious designs. We carry out detailed analysis, evalua -

tion and verifications on the projects with the help of our best-in-class engi neers that guarantee long-term durability. We carry out legal practices in selling the properties and estates that are constructed with the help of trustwor thy contractors. These contractors have decades of experience in constructing commercial real-estate properties.

Having developed several residen tial and commercial projects covering more than 275 acres, we ventured into warehouse logistics with Empire Lo gipark, spread across 70 acres of land with state-of-the-art facilities and strate gically located on Agra-Mumbai National Highway 3 between the cities of Dewas and Indore in Madhya Pradesh. Establishing Empire Logipark was planned in 2011 and it came into shape in 2014.

How important at present is Indore’s commercial real estate, particularly the warehousing sector? Since 2018, the warehousing market in Indore has seen an exponential growth. In fact, in the last two years, the nearby areas in the vicinity of Empire Logipark has seen about 1.5 million sq ft of ware houses being leased to national and multi-national companies.

At present, with the pandemic sub siding, we are seeing a sudden surge in warehousing demand as e-commerce business is at all-time high with people buying goods and services online in creasing more than ever before.

How does the Madhya Pradesh market perceive Empire Logipark as a major logistics services provider?

As far as Madhya Pradesh is concerned, Indore is known to be its business capital. Supported by industrial hubs Pithampur and Dewas, Indore is always the first choice for warehousing demands. Also, the geographical location of Indore offers a lot of advantages. Being in the centre of the country, most of the important roads cross through or around Indore which makes it easier for logistics companies to deliver to and from the city.

For instance, Avenue Supermarts, commonly known as DMart- an Indian chain of hypermarkets owns around 125,000 sq ft of warehousing space at Empire Logipark. It serves as the distri bution centre for entire Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh as well as parts of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Empire Logipark is spread across 70 acres of land with state-ofthe-art facilities and strategically located on Agra-Mumbai National Highway 3 between the cities of Dewas and Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

What makes your offerings better than the others in the competition? How do you compare in terms of time, security and efficiency of logistics operations within your facilities? Empire Logipark is planned as per international logistics requirements. 18 meter wide roads enabling easy circulation of vehicles help in faster delivery of goods. Facilities are planned as per interna tional norms with 12 meter clear height Grade A warehouses which is difficult to find with others in the competition.

Empire Logipark is situated right on NH3 and connects Indore-Dewas-Bhopal to Mumbai. This saves time on goods delivery along while smooth internal roadways network makes local distribu tion faster and hassle free. At Empire Logipark, we have vehicle weighbridge which helps to maintain the exact figures of the goods coming inward and going outward in the trucks, and CCTV sur veillance, 24x7 security, high-frequency lighting to ensure enhanced security.

How was your performance in terms of business growth- sales and revenue in the last fiscal year? From the last two years, India’s warehousing industry is on a boom. The high growth in demand followed by the abil ity to supply has helped us to lease and sell out more than what we expected, registering a positive sales growth rate.

How is Empire Logipark remaining conscious to ensure clients remain unaffected by the pandemic-led health hazard? Fortunately, warehousing industry is doing better and on a good growth path, and was least affected during the lock downs. We are trying to meet the huge demand that have erupted.

Due to the risk of direct health ef fects from COVID-19 infection on workers performing duties in an essential service, we are maintaining sanitisation, cleanliness, screening of truck drivers,

visitors and every single person entering and exiting our facilities on a regular basis for greater safety in the premises.

How are you leveraging new trends and technologies to improve the efficiency and safety of your operations? Warehousing is an ever-growing and constantly innovating industry. We keep on learning and adapting to the dynam ics regularly.

At Empire Logipark, we have intro duced laser screed FM2 flooring, modern day fire fighting measures, dock levellers, rain water recharging and ef ficient waste disposal and other efficient measures.

At any logistics park, most impor tant is having a truck parking facility and enough room for multiple vehicle movement. At Empire Logipark, we provide common parking facility more than 200 trucks at any given time at our park.

In general, what are your views on the regional warehousing market as a favorable real-estate asset class? What are your predictions for the near-term? Indore has always been a warehousing hub. But, many of the older godowns and transport areas which if measured comes to around 1000 acres have now transformed into residential areas. Now the time has come to look for stor

In the next 3-5 years, we would like to host all major e-commerce, 3PL players at Empire Logipark and achieve at least 2 million sq ft of leasing.

age and distribution facilities in the outskirts of the city. This is where Empire Logipark plays an important role as a service provider to meet ware housing needs combined with modern day offerings. The services provided by us are unmatchable and we mesmerise the huge clientele with our ecstatic facility.

In my view, the next five years are very bright for the warehousing market in Indore, and we will continue to play a major role.

What would you highlight as other key trends and market dynamics that are shaping India as a logistics hub? Mass exposure to internet, online shopping, and ease of buying things online has created a drastic shift subsequently boosting e-commerce sales. To meet the demands, retailers and e-tailers both need more warehouses and fulfilment centers closer to consumption centers. Increase in foreign investments in from biggies such as Amazon, Walmart, IKEA, etc. is playing a big role in shaping India’s future as a logistics hub.

What has been the greatest business challenge you have faced in the wake of the crisis and how did you overcome it? In the wake of the crisis, what we have realised is that customers have sufficient capital but they are reluctant to invest. We noticed they are skeptical about making huge investments during these volatile times. It has become critical and also difficult to convince them, this ulti mately limits us from offering the valueadded services and fruitful investment returns that would have proved benefi cial to them.

What would be your strategic priorities moving forward from here? What are the key milestones you would like to achieve in the next 3 to 5 years? We aim at educating the MNCs that Indore is a self-sufficient city with great potential. Although it is a tier II city, it is located strategically to serve better as a logistics hub when compared to many other tier I cities. We have lower rentals, cheaper construction/land costs, and offer better ease of doing business with no or minimum union issues as compared to cities like Mumbai and elsewhere in India.

In the next 3-5 years, we would like to host all major e-commerce, 3PL play ers at Empire Logipark and achieve at least 2 million sq ft of leasing.