PASSING THE PARCEL

Meet Sridhar who ensures your shopping reaches you on time, even in villages

Every time you make a purchase online, you probably can't wait for the item to arrive at your doorstep. A day's delay and you're annoyed, twiddling your thumbs and wondering why your package hasn't arrived. Working behind the scenes to ensure that your delivery reaches you in the nick of time, is Connect India, a last mile distribution service provider.




THE GREAT IDEA In 2011-12, the e-commerce boom took the Indian market by surprise. This meant that the industry struck the Indian market with volumes that were never envisaged by the distribution companies. That's when LR Sridhar, Founder and CEO - Connect India, who has four decades of experience in the field of logistics, observed that the distribution business needed to be streamlined. "We figured that logistics is a key factor in determining the success of an e-commerce company and it is always cheaper to outsource last-mile delivery and logistics rather than operate it on their own," Sridhar says. With this idea, Connect India was born. "We are focusing on delivering goods from any part of the country to any other in a time- definite manner, including the rural areas in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan (Bundi, Nagaur, Dusa) and Punjab (Uppalkhalsa, Shashkot, Apra)," he says.

HOW IT WORKS An e-commerce portal connects with Connect India, which deputes its employees to collect the items for delivery. The items are taken to the sorting centres (there are five sorting centres in Bengaluru) after which they are delivered to the Connect India Centres (in rural and urban areas, these are usually local medical stores, kirana shops etc), who then deliver the items to the customer. "The last mile delivery in the 1 sq. km delivery area is facilitated by cycle / walk, which reduces the cost and is also carbon-positive," he says.

THE SET-UP While their office is based in Bengaluru, they started work in Punjab, where they have covered 60% of pin codes in the state. In the last five months, they have covered over 2,000 pin codes through 3,000 centres in 21 states and Union Territories. They are also present in the North East and remote parts of Rajasthan. They have 250 employees who are involved with sorting, administration, and delivery to the Connect India Centres. They have five regional offices in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

MONEY MATTERS They received an initial capital of Rs 32 crore from Aaviskaar. The funds are being used for running vans and developing the distribution and trace and track technology.

REVENUE MODEL They take a commission from the e-commerce portals they work with.

FIRST CLIENT It was Amazon which undertook a pilot with Connect India to create rural delivery outreach in Punjab. As part of the pilot they were able to fulfill 85 per cent of the orders in the very first day in remote rural areas of Punjab. So far, they have signed agreements with Amazon, Flipkart, Shopclues, Voonik, Naaptol and Zivame.

THE CHALLENGES "Everything has to go on with clockwork precision, and even a slight delay in one aspect will result in late delivery," says Sridhar, pointing out to the daily challenge in the job.

PAY-OFF "It's heartening when senior government officials meet us and give us sufficient time to understand our model. We want to create a business model like India Post thus enabling deliveries to millions of people living in the remotest parts of the country," he says.

FUTURE PLANS Their plan for the next two years is to expand to 26,000 pin-codes and reach over 50,000 distribution centers. "We are looking at creating state-of-the-art infrastructure through automated sorting centers across the country," he says.