Blue Dart banks on growth in auto spares movement

Car makers are taking customer service seriously. The courier and logistic company, Blue Dart says that there has been a rapid growth in transportation of auto spares to 13,000 locations across the country from South India, at a premium price.

The importance given by the car companies to bring the auto spare parts to the dealers in the shortest time possible seems to be driving the growth of transporting auto spares at a premium price.

Addressing mediapersons in Chennai on Wednesday, Malcolm Monterio, managing director, Blue Dart Express Ltd, said that the transportation of auto spare was a small segment currently, but it had been growing at a faster pace than banking, information technology, insurance, among others. However, he added that banking was the largest contributor to Blue Dart's revenue.

Gopa Kumar, vice- president (south), Blue Dart, said that the growth in movement of auto spares had been reported in the South in the last one year. There was a demand to airlift auto components as well but it was only for the auto spares which are transported in the premium price category.

The premium segment charges almost 100 per cent more than the regular category, he added.

While auto components were heavier and were only transported to the manufacturing units, auto spares were sent to various distributors, he added.

With car companies like Hyundai, Ford India and Toyota having manufacturing bases in South, transportation of auto spares to dealers has grown in this region, compared to the West, North and East.

Kumar said that companies prefered to pay a premium for auto spares as it is not stocked in various locations. Whenever there was an order from distributors, the auto companies sent them as fast as possible, he added.

Blue Dart aims to tap the growing hardware imports from Southeast Asia to Chennai Port for domestic distribution. The company has added an integrated superhub in Chennai, the other hubs being in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

The company handled about 1.25 lakh tonne of loads during calender year 2005 and total exports out of Chennai and Bangalore amounted to 42,000 tonnes. The cargo movement in the country is estimated in value terms of about Rs 1,100 crore.

With the boom in the small car segment, the potential of transporting auto spares are also expected to register exponential growth.