CARGOCONNECT-AUGUST 2025 - Flipbook - Page 38
SPECIAL FEATURE : PAY-PER-USE LOGISTICS
evolution now being embraced across FMCG, electronics,
publishing, and personal care.”
This market-wide pivot is further reinforced by
broader warehousing trends. Vinay Patil, CEO at KSH
Integrated Logistics, observes, “We’re witnessing
a clear shift in how businesses approach logistics
infrastructure. A recent report highlighted that India’s
warehousing sector leased 16.7 million sq ft in Q1 2025
alone, underscoring the rising demand for flexible
logistics. The traditional model of owning or committing
to 昀椀xed, long-term facilities no longer 昀椀ts today’s dynamic
market conditions. Whether it’s a large enterprise or
a fast-growing brand, companies are looking to stay
agile, reduce upfront capital exposure, and scale in
line with demand. Pay-per-use logistics provides that
flexibility. It allows businesses to respond quickly
to market opportunities, pilot new regions, or scale
during peak seasons, all without being tied down by
long-term costs.”
“At KSH Integrated Logistics, we’ve seen this shift
昀椀rsthand,” Patil notes and adds that their multi-client
facilities across cities like Pune, Bhiwandi, Chennai,
and Bangalore o昀昀er scalable, plug-and-play solutions
that align customer costs with actual usage—not just
to manage expense, but to future-proof operations.
However, the pivot is not necessarily a wholesale
rejection of contracts. Raj Somani, Founder and CEO
of LinkedLogi, argues that the nature of logistics agreements is evolving rather than disappearing. “They aren’t
moving away from contracts — they’re upgrading how
contracts are executed,” Raj asseverates and emphasises
that India’s fragmented logistics ecosystem still requires
the stability and rate assurance of long-term contracts,
but with smarter execution.
Today’s enterprises expect contracts to include 昀氀exible
service elements, such as dynamic benchmarking and
over昀氀ow support that adjust to real-time disruptions or
demand surges. Fast onboarding and agility are now
baked into how contracts are written and operationalised.
Introduction to the Pay-per-Use Model
38 | CARGOCONNECT AUGUST 2025
“India’s logistics will remain contract-driven because
long-term agreements are the only way to stabilise
rates, ensure capacity, and maintain service quality
across fragmented supply chains,” he avows.
That nuanced shift is visible across the supply chain.
As Naman Vijay, Co-Founder and CEO of ClickPost,
notes, “Enterprises that once insisted on dedicated
infrastructure now want to stay as light and 昀氀exible
as possible. At ClickPost, many of our largest clients
have moved away from long-term warehousing and
carrier contracts in favor of usage-based logistics. When
your business spans 100+ cities and multiple channels,
locking capital into 昀椀xed assets becomes a bottleneck.
In this volatile environment, agility is the only way to
scale without overcommitting capital or exposing the
business to unnecessary risk.”
Adding further context on logistics operations,
Vishal Jain, Co-Founder and CEO of Roadcast, states,
“The shift away from fixed infrastructure toward
pay-per-use logistics is rooted in the need for cost
e昀케ciency, scalability, and operational agility. In today’s
volatile market landscape, enterprises cannot a昀昀ord idle
assets or rigid logistics models. Pay-per-use systems
allow businesses to tap into 昀氀exible 昀氀eets, driver pools,
and delivery networks only when required, dramatically
reducing overheads.”
“By leveraging real-time dispatch tools, intelligent
route planning, and usage-based models, companies
can scale operations up or down with minimal friction, optimising logistics without locking capital into
underutilised infrastructure,” Jain describes.
This nuanced take reveals that the shift to 昀氀exible
logistics isn’t about discarding structure, it’s about
integrating elasticity into that structure. It is a response to
a changing business environment, not just a technological
or pricing innovation.
That broader economic and policy context is central
to understanding this shift, says Prasad Sreeram, CEO
and Co-founder of COGOS. “India’s logistics sector is
currently undergoing a fundamental shift based on policy
reform and economic drivers,” he notes. The National
Logistics Policy (NLP 2022) sets a clear ambition: to
reduce logistics costs to 8% of GDP. Achieving this
target requires a rethink of infrastructure investment.
“Enterprises make a transition away from static, capexheavy infrastructure to dynamic, consumption-based
