CARGOCONNECT-AUGUST 2025 - Flipbook - Page 41
PAY-PER-USE LOGISTICS : SPECIAL FEATURE
The ability to enter a tier III city, monitor performance
for a few weeks, and pull back without any sunk cost
is a massive win.” He adds that such models don’t just
reduce capital risk, they rede昀椀ne how brands pursue
scale in the 昀椀rst place.
At a broader industry level, the rise of flexible
warehousing and on-demand freight is creating new
opportunities for scalability—especially for startups
and Small and Mid-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Sreeram
underlines this shift: “Flexible warehousing and freighton-demand options are enabling new scalability for
Indian brands. Start-ups and SMEs can now test new
geographies without investing in long-term storage
or 昀氀eet infrastructure.” This has lowered the barrier
to entry into regional markets, allowing businesses
to pilot expansion strategies without locking into
high 昀椀xed costs.
Sourabh 昀椀rmly agrees. “For an emerging or young
company, each rupee counts. Long-term leases on
warehouses or owning a 昀氀eet of vehicles may appear
to be development, but they tend to lock up precious
capital. That’s where flexible warehousing and ondemand freight come in. Those models allow brands
to only pay for the space or delivery capacity that they
use,” he clari昀椀es and points to a CBRE report showing
that 昀氀exible warehousing demand in India rose more
than 160% from 2021 to 2023—highlighting that this
is a long-term shift, not a passing trend.
“For entrepreneurs looking to reconcile ambition
with prudence, this configuration provides leeway.
It reduces fixed expenses but maintains a nimble,
customer-facing operation,” Sourabh adds.
Sreeram also points to government initiatives that
are bolstering this shift. “Actions like the Warehousing
Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA)’s target
to create 1 lakh warehouses, and the Department for
Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)'s
streamlining of regulations, are directly helping de-risk
operations,” he notes. These regulatory moves facilitate
a transition from CAPEX-heavy logistics to variable-cost
models, a structural change that enhances operational
昀氀uidity and reduces 昀椀nancial exposure. In this environment, logistics is increasingly being treated as a utility
service—scalable, consumable, and unbundled—rather
than a 昀椀xed infrastructure play.
The above revelations and developments mark a
departure from legacy logistics built around physical
ownership and 昀椀xed assets. Instead, warehousing and
freight are becoming dynamic tools that adjust to demand,
de-risk operations, and unlock scalable access to markets.
Whether it's Prozo’s real-time capacity management,
LinkedLogi’s multimodal contingency systems, KSH
Integrated Logistics’ multi-client infrastructure and
scalable freight solutions, ClickPost’s capital-light
omnichannel network, Uncle Delivery’s agile last-mile
execution, Roadcast’s tech-enabled elasticity in storage
and dispatch, or COGOS’s policy-aligned SME enablement,
the common thread is clear: logistics is no longer a static
backend function—it is an adaptive engine designed to
keep pace with an unpredictable market.
From visibility to velocity: fullstack supply chains as engines of
enterprise growth
as Indian enterprises embrace the pay-per-use logistics
paradigm, the value of logistics is expanding far beyond
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