NECC wants to enter e-commerce delivery market

New Delhi: Logistics firm North Eastern Carrying Corporation Ltd (NECC) is looking to enter the e-commerce delivery space and is in talks with leading online retailers such as Flipkart and Paytm to provide last-mile delivery services, especially in the Northeast where it has an established presence.

“The north-east region is a tough terrain due to infrastructure and connectivity issues. While e-tailers have been able to reach major cities, they still have a long way to go in the north-east, a potentially important market for e-commerce companies,” said Sunil Jain, managing director, NECC, which currently handles logistics for companies like Dabur India Ltd, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

The company says it handles an average of 2,000 trucks a day and has 1 million square feet of warehouse space spread across the country. The logistics company, founded in 1968, has more than 250 branches in India and neighboring Nepal and Bhutan.

The rapidly growing e-commerce sector has attracted many popular companies which now have to compete with new and established companies like GoJavas, Delhivery, Ecom Express Pvt. Ltd which are leveraging IT tools like Proof of Delivery (POD) mobile devices, card on delivery etc.

To keep up with the competition, NECC is partnering with web design firms to upgrade its technology. The company also plans to hire 500 people in operations, technology and delivery in a phased manner. Initially, it plans to hire 80-100 people—mostly couriers—and the rest as operational and management executives. “That should happen by March 2016,” Jain said.

NECC recorded revenues of ₹ 530 crore for the financial year ending March 2015. The company aims to earn additional revenue of Rs. ₹ 200 crore from the e-commerce delivery segment in the next 24 months.