Noel Tata has taken over as chairman of DIESL (Drive India Enterprise Solutions Limited), signifying the growing importance that the Tata group has placed on logistics. Noel Tata has also revamped the board of directors by roping in experienced hands to drive the next phase of growth at DIESL. New members of the board include KRS Jamwal, Executive Director, at Tata Industries and RS Thakur, MD and CEO at Tata AutoComp Systems. The logistics major is in the process of increasing the warehousing capacity under management from 4.4 million sq feet to 6 million sq feet in the present financial year.
The company growing at 100% in the last 3 years has also invested heavily into technology. “Over a five year period we are investing Rs 100 crore in our IT systems as we believe technology will be the crucial differentiating factor in our business,” said Chopra. DIESL believes that GST will redefine the business and demand for technology centric solutions. Explains Ajay Chopra, “We believe the average size of warehouses in India will rise from the average of 10,000 sq feet right now as companies look at consolidating warehouses for greater efficiencies. At that point having proper route planning and automated warehouses with advanced IT systems that can offer scale benefits will become crucial”
To cater to this demand the company is setting up warehousing hubs across the country. In the next 2 years, it hopes to have 9 hubs pan India including four mega hubs with warehousing space of between 2.5-5 lakh sq feet each, operational across four large cities in India including Mumbai and Chennai. Noel Tata has set the company an aggressive target to be not just the best in India but also amongst the top ten in Asia Pacific in its segment.