Blue Dart to invest in Rs 1,000 cr

With competition heating up in the express courier business, Blue Dart Express Ltd, an integrated express courier and package distribution firm has announced plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore...

With competition heating up in the express courier business, Blue Dart Express Ltd, an integrated express courier and package distribution firm has announced plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore to expand its infrastructure and ground services over the next five to eight years.

“We plan to invest approximately Rs 1,000 crore over the short to medium term in air infrastructure, aircraft, and ramping up of ground infrastructure with state-of-the art facilities, transit hubs, with hi-tech material handling equipment among others,” said Blue Dart Express managing director Anil Khanna.

The company has also launched ‘Surfaceline’, a new ground express service, which would enable expansion of its network of 14,600 locations to 17,500 locations over a period of time. “We currently command a modest market share of 5.8 per cent in the ground segment, but we aim to take this to 20 per cent in the short to medium term and become market leaders in the segment,” said Khanna.

While the company is betting on emerging tier I and tier II cities to fuel its ground express service business, it is also planning to open 58 new warehouses across the country in the next three years. The company, which is a part of the DHL group and has a 41.7 per cent market share in the domestic air express segment, has invested Rs 22 crore to ramp up its infrastructure this year.