Understanding the future of Indian Warehouse Industry
From traditional transport companies to full-sledged logistics providers, Indian logistics market has come a long way in a matter of two decades. Old players in supply chain in India are much more focused on providing customized services to the players. With the emergence of third-party logistics (3PL) many things have changed for the good in logistics industry. The services include management, warehousing, transportation, and integrated operations. All these customized operations highly depend on the prevailing market conditions as well.

Increased FDI, improved markets, and growing consumption level are some of the prime reasons of this sudden boom in logistics market. Since the pharmaceutical, automotive, and industrial industry are also going through transitions, it has become imperative for the warehouse managers to create manufacturing reformation. Due to such ground breaking transformation in real estate market, warehouse spaces in Delhi, Mumbai, and many other places in India are also under the eye of some huge international players.
Supply chains in India typically consists of three elements — transportation, warehouse management, and distribution. Warehouse managers often look for ways to rightly plan the execution of all supply chains so that they can cut down on costs.
With the advent of cold chains, container freight stations, and ICDs, classification of supply chains in India has become a bit complicated. Let’s explore how supply chains are classified and run in India.
Public warehouses: These kinds of warehouses are owned by government of India. Contrary to the popular belief, they are used by private entities to store goods for public. They are usually given out on lease or rent by government authorities for a period of time. They are economical and easy to maintain but it is usually difficult to book them.
Private Warehouses: Owned by private entities and individuals, they are usually regulated by an individuals or corporate companies. They are usually located at outskirts of city or isolated places as they cater mostly to the service units. The best thing about them is that they can be customized easily according to storage.
Government Warehouses: These warehouses are primarily owned by public and private authorities jointly. They are typically consists of CWC, FCI, and SWC. With the sudden boom in industrial real estate market in India, government of India is thinking of investing more in these entities.
Cooperative warehouses: Owned, managed, and maintained by cooperative societies, these warehouses provide facilities at much cheaper rates to warehouse managers. Some of the common examples of container freight stations (CFS) and ICDs. Some of the common facilities provided by these entities are loading and unloading stuff, goods dispatching, stuffing of containers, temporary storage of cargo and containers, refrigeration, and management of containers.
Bonded warehouses: These warehouses were introduced to provide financial aid to importers, exporters, and young entrepreneurs. Bonded warehouses help entrepreneurs to carry operations without any major financial hassles. Though custom duties always come in the way of all procedures but if somebody happens to get a hold on it then things automatically get sorted.
Cold storage: It is a cold preservation zone which is used in industries like agriculture, horticulture, dairy and fisheries. Some of the key activities in this area are pre-cooling, sorting, and aggregation. Cold storages were initially created to aid agriculture industry but now it has emerged as a major player in supply chain market. It is most likely to boom in coming years as well.
