DHL to invest 70 million euros in India's B2C eCommerce

DHL eCommerce, a division of Deutsche Post DHL, revealed a few days ago that it would invest 70 million euros in India to strengthen its logistics for e-commerce in the country. The investment - part of a broader plan to aggressively expand across Asia Pacific - will be implemented through subsidiary Blue Dart Express and used to expand air hubs in Delhi and Mumbai, which are part of the company's 13 platform-network in India.

"The United States and Asia Pacific are the two largest markets for online commerce and the opening of these new facilities is a further step in the development of DHL's online logistics network, India is truly an important market for us and one of the fastest growing.B2C online trading is expected to grow from 9.6 billion euros in 2016 to 30-40 billion in 2020, "said Charles Brewer, CEO of DHL eCommerce.

The current hubs, measuring 5,761 square metres in Delhi and 4,274 square metres in Mumbai, will be equipped with automation to increase the volumes of inbound and outbound shipments - to over 500 tonnes per day - and to decrease turn-around and delivery times.

In terms of growth in the region, Brewer called Southeast Asia "the next e-commerce wonderland" in a recent interview with e27: "Southeast Asia, like many other markets, will continue to experience huge growth in the e-commerce sector. It is a market of more than 630 million — a large and growing population. Online sales represent approximately 3 percent of retail sales. It has an accelerating internet environment, one of the fastest growing m-commerce markets, and will be the next e-commerce wonderland."

"In India, we expect this to grow to 30-40 billion euros (32-42 billion US dollars) by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 30-35 per cent from 2014 to 2020. Going forward, Blue Dart’s focus is to continue growing our market leadership position in the B2C e-commerce logistics space, and we are investing hugely in this area through our people, our services, our technology, innovative solutions, and extending our coverage in India," added Brewer in terms of the company's India plans.

DHL banks on the ongoing growth of consumption by the middle classes in the country as well as increased mobile and internet penetration and the development of logistics and infrastructure. In terms of the latter, bringing e-commerce not only to people living in the big cities and metros will be key, and DHL plans to expand its range across the country: "We currently have an extensive coverage of over 5,400 pin codes and will continue to aggressively grow and increase our coverage," confirmed Brewer.

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