Vivek Juneja Founder and Managing Director

Viv ek Juneja

Var una Gro up has been driving a new era of technology-enabled logistics, warehousing, and integrated services. The company has built deep expertise and rich infrastructure to effectively address the pain points of the Indian logistics industry. Starting from a micro-regional logistics company to becoming a pioneer in the national road transport industry, the company has seen tremendous growth in the last two decades. Vive k

Juneja, t he gro up’s

Fo under and Managing Director whose vision and contribution has been pivotal in ushering the dramatic growth, informs about their utmost dedication and excellence in all areas to build a competitive edge towards value creation for clients, and that India’s push for self-reliance was a long time coming.

‘Vocal for Local’ movement will add value to the Indian logistics and supply chain sector

KIndly share the mantra/ strategies suggested to achieve safety and carry out operations efficiently in this difficult hour. A key mantra for success in this difficult hour has been the move from physical to paperless and contactless. Seeing the current situation, customers also under stand the urgent need for digitalisation. In fact, we are the first ones to imple ment ELR.

We have also shifted our focus towards reinventing business continuity planning models. Earlier, it was imple mented just as a policy in company books but now everyone has become serious about it. And they are actively evaluating vendors on the basis of busi ness continuity planning parameters. This is critical for organising this unor ganised industry. This policy boosts growth and helps in the process of creat ing systems of prevention and recovery to deal with potential calamities.

How can the logistics ecosystem players gear up to support India's dream of becoming a manufacturing hub? I would say India is rightly and strategically placed for taking this challenge. The country can easily convert the co rona crisis into an opportunity. However, lot of work in terms of planning and investment needs to be strategised by the government as well as private authorities. A lot of labour reforms, ad equate infrastructure, trained manpower, etc. are required to boost up the economy. The government so far de serves to be complimented for efficiently managing so far the fallout of the out break that is devastating many countries in the world.

Mere chest thumping, slogans or patriotic zeal won’t make us the next manufacturing hub. We have to focus, prepare and offer something compelling to the world.

Initially, during the outbreak, a ban was imposed on the national and international movement of cargo. Tell us about the challenges that you faced during then and how did you cope with it? As a logistics service provider, the biggest challenge we faced was the shortage of manpower/trained drivers and this continues to be a challenge for lo gistics players as thousands of migrants have already gone back to their home towns during the lockdown, many yet to return. Besides, there wasn’t any clarity on movement of cargo; there was lot of confusion and chaos at local ad ministration levels.

The situation is slowly coming back to normal, and we already in the fourth phase of unlocking. Business operations are improving but shortage of labour

and drivers will remain until a COV ID-19 vaccine is widely available. Ensuring manpower on ground while taking care of their safety and health continues to be the biggest goal for us during the ongoing crisis.

Now that the operations have been resumed, kindly throw light on the ef ficient plans and strategies you have adopted to ensure smooth and safe sup ply chain operations.

We are proactively investing in our IT capabilities and advanced technologies. Digitalisation has helped us remain competitive in this difficult hour.

In the recent past, we had invested whopping amounts in IT capabilities and focussed on giving customers visi bility and transparency of operations. We are utilisng the benefits of the same and doing our best to make business operations more resilient and efficient in the face of the crisis. Digitalisation has helped us remain competitive and keep up with the ever-evolving industry trends. Therefore, we continue to proac tively invest in our IT capabilities and advanced technologies.

Regarding health and safety, we are following each and every guideline and ensuring 100 per cent safety at our office premises, logistics centers and warehouses. How do you foresee the future of the Indian logistics industry? The Indian logistics business is slowly shifting from unorganised to an organ ised one and somehow, this crisis has provided a spotlight for creating more opportunities than ever to form a deep er relationship with consumers and streamline operations, both of which are critical to win in today’s marketplace.

COVID-19 crisis has taught India the importance of local manufacturing and supply chains. It is time to usher in eco nomic policies that produce welfare, sustainable incomes, help job creation and all in all, puts faith in the people. ‘Vocal for Local’ movement will add a lot of value to the Indian logistics and supply chain sector.

How COVID-19 reinforced the importance of business continuity planning? The logistics industry will come to a standstill if supply chains stop working. A lot of businesses have already been affected because of the unprecedented collapse in economic activities over the last few months.

Business continuity planning has become a necessity and customers have started evaluating service providers on its basis. Preparation through business continuity planning is essential for any entity hoping to bounce back faster. I suggest every organisation should eval uate their risk management policies and contingency plans to make sure they are future-ready, rather than waiting for such a crisis to happen first.