The Indian arm of European logistics major TNT expects its overall business in the country to grow between 20-25 per cent over the next few years, with its domestic operations slated to contribute the majority share to its total revenues here.
TNT India, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Netherlands-based TNT NV, is anticipating its domestic road-based service to register between 35-40 per cent growth this year, subsequent to the realignment within the firm taken up after it acquired Speedage Express Cargo Services in 2006.
“After Speedage was integrated with TNT India in 2008, we spent some time on combining the synergies of the two companies. Last year (2009) was the first operational year of the fully integrated entity. Since our international business is dependent on external factors, the domestic business is one of our biggest hedges,” TNT India managing director Abhik Mitra said.
Currently, the domestic operations — which include air-express, road-express and service logistics businesses — contribute between 40-45 per cent of TNT India's revenues, while the remainder comes from its international operations.
Mitra, however, is hopeful that this ratio will reverse in the next couple of years as all the three segments of the domestic operations are likely to see robust growth.
“But the international business from India, especially between China and Europe, is expected grow. Last year, the segment grew by about 40 per cent. Overall, the company's turnover should increase 25 per cent year-on-year,” he added.
In fact, TNT India — which at present operates its domestic air-express business by hiring space in other airlines — could bring 3-4 aircrafts from Europe to service its Indian operations in another two years, Mitra said. In eastern India, the firm will add over 1 lakh sq ft to the existing facilities. “We have seen that there is a huge potential in eastern India, both from an outbound and inbound perspective, and have made a conscious decision of upgrading and expanding our infrastructure in the region,” Mitra said.
