Intra-city logistics solutions providers are a growing tribe in tier II and III cities as traffic problems force the, municipality to oppose entry of heavy vehicles. Additionally, burgeoning e-commerce deliveries and a demand-supply lapse in the unorganised ‘tempo’ segment is helping their cause.

The list includes LoadingTempo, Logisure and YeloTempo in Jaipur, MUVR and Tempawala in Ahmedabad and Indore’s Maalgaadi.

“Municipalities are strict nowadays,” said Jay Merja, Founder of MUVR.in. He adds that goods weight averages 1.5-2 tonne making large trucks ineffective in terms of cost and time. Small commercial vehicles (SCVs) are fuel-efficient, have better maneuverability and comply with municipality regulations.

MUVR had only 135 SCV owners on its platform when it started in June 2015. Less than a year later, it has 1,600 SCV owners and gets 80% of its business from the commercial segment— retailers, wholesalers, traders, distributors and SMEs. The rest comes from households.

IIT-Delhi alumnus Ashish Kumar and R Karthirvelu, both IT professionals, founded Loading-Tempo in September 2015 in Jaipur. “We started with single-digit numbers, serving a very specific area in Jaipur. Now, we have grown to hundreds of SCVs covering most of the city,” said Kumar. LoadingTempo has a business ratio of 30:70 (household: commercial) in Jaipur and is currently running pilots elsewhere.

Saurabh Raj, Co-Founder, Maalgaadi, said more than 75% of SCVs are operated by small fleet operators. Small scale operations mean these operators see low capacity utilisation and empty returns trips.

“These inherent limitations give rise to imbalance in demand and supply among SCVs,” he said, adding that this gives an opportunity to aggregators, who can share the data of large number of customers.

Source: The Economic Times