Gurugram-based third-party logistics warehousing firm Varuna Group, is planning to invest around Rs 500 crore to set up 30 'Grade A+' warehousing facilities across the country in the next five years, in a move to increase employment and customer satisfaction in the domestic logistics space.
"We will be building 30 'Grade A+' warehousing facilities in the next five years. As each facility is expected to come up at a cost of around Rs 50 crore, this will entail a total investment of around Rs 1,500 crore," Vivek Juneja, Managing Director said.
He added that the company is looking at the hybrid model wherein both the developer and the company will invest in the venture.
Varuna Group at present has 25 'Grade A+' facilities across 28 locations in India, with 1.2 million sq ft of warehousing space. It has presence at over 900 locations, including its offices, warehouses and loading-unloading points.
While the company has its multi-user facilities spread across over 5 lakh sq ft space with the largest one at Rajpura (Punjab), the rest is used for dedicated storage solutions and value-added services like labelling, reverse logistics and refurbishing, via pay-per-use model. These facilities can handle loading and unloading of around 500 trucks per day.
An early adopter of technology in the domestic logistics space, including the use of GPS devices for vehicle tracking, the company is also looking to add 300 trucks every year from the next fiscal in its current fleet of over 1,800 trucks.
The Varuna group caters mainly to segments such as tyres, in which the company provides an end-to-end service, fast-moving consumer goods, pharma, lubes, food and beverage and other industrial products, among others. The company is also moving into selling flexible warehousing space, a service which is currently not available in the country.
Juneja also added, "Currently, the customer doesn't get flexible warehousing space in india. And, here, we are offering flexible warehousing space and flexible trucking in between these warehouses. "