United Parcel Service (UPS), the US-based global courier company, is looking at healthcare sector and contract logistics to drive growth in India.
The company sees great potential for movement of critical medical parcels in and out of the country. This is a specialised segment and UPS has expertise in handling sensitive products, according to Mark Martyn-Fisher, Managing Director, UPS India.
“We see strengthening demand in the healthcare sector. This is a highly regulated sector, particularly because the products will be regulated in the destination markets. That lends itself well to UPS’ strengths in terms on-time delivery of products in good condition with full visibility,” said Fisher.
The company is looking at more specialised products which require additional services such as controlling the temperature of the product and monitoring the location and its conditions during shipment. UPS invests about $1 billion in technology every year, Fisher said
Another area that the company is optimistic about is contract logistics, where the logistics for a large project is provided by a third party. In this segment, quick delivery of critical spares and equipment is crucial and UPS is equipped to handle such shipments.
“As India is developing, there is a much higher demand for high-technology equipments to run specific services. It could be critical equipments like hospital or telecommunications equipment. So, there is a need to supply spares quickly to engineers who maintain such equipment,” Fisher said.
UPS has been developing contract logistics solutions for the last couple of years and will continue to focus on this business, he added.
The company is looking to expand in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. “We have opened up two new gateways in the South in Chennai and Bangalore. There is a need to reduce the time in transit to import products to these regions and move the clearing processes closer to where the businesses are,” Fisher added.
The company is also expanding its warehousing capacity to Hosur in Tamil Nadu. Commenting on the growth of UPS in India, Fisher said he expects growth to be in the range of 15 per cent in the current financial year. Fitch had earlier pegged the Indian logistics industry at $350 billion by 2015 and said it would grow in the range of 15-20 per cent annually. In FY 2012, UPS clocked revenue of $53 billion globally, registering a growth of 7 per cent.
source--.thehindubusinessline
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