Courier service provider Gati today said it will raise the rates of its services by up to 10 per cent by January next year due to rising input costs.
The company has also decided to go slow on its Rs 150 crore planned expansion programmes for the current financial year on account of slowdown in the market.
"Three has been a constant increase of rentals, fuel prices and operating costs. We may not immediately raise, but there is a need for prices to go up," Gati Ltd Managing Director and CEO Mahendra Agarwal told reporters on the sidelines of India Economic Summit here.
He said the company would increase the prices between five per cent and 10 per cent by January 2009.
As there has been a slowdown, so we are going slow in our expansion plans, Agarwal said. The company had earmarked a Rs 150-crore expansion programme during the July 2008 to June 2009 financial year for adding warehousing capacities.
"Currently, we have about two million sqft of warehousing space and we had planned to increase it to 2.5 million sqft by June next year," Agarwal said, adding that this planned expansion would now be delayed by three-four months.
During the July-September quarter, the company reported a 30 per cent year-on-year growth, while it is expecting 20 per cent growth in the current quarter, he said.
"In the January to March quarter there may not be much dip as lots of government dispatches will happen. But in April to June quarter it may be slow," Agarwal said.
He further said there is a pressure on margins as its cargo planes were not operating with full capacities.
The company has two cargo planes operating in Indian distribution and supply chain market and the firm has its network in all the majors cities across India.
