DHL bets big on India, to step up new investments
DHL will continue to invest in India as a core growth market, says Scott Price, CEO, DHL Express Asia Pacific. DHL has invested over $1.6bn in Asia Pacific so far, of which US $250m is in India. And, more is on the way.
Until the late 1990s, says Mr Price, China took a lot of time and focus. But now we are beginning to see a shift to an Asia strategy that includes both India and China. He says increasingly India is seen as a very credible place to invest in, but the lack of good infrastructure hampers proper growth. Growth for DHL in India will come from auto, computers, chips, and textiles, which are sourced increasingly from India and will need a seamless time-sensitive supply chain.
Today we see not just the value of item or sample that goes into the DHL network globally from India, but its value to the supply chain of our customers, he says. The more efficiently the sample can be handled and delivered, the faster the entire sourcing cycle can work, and there can be more turns a year for the buyer and supplier.
India is in the top ten markets for DHL but Mr Price says he won’t be surprised if in the next five years, it moves into the top five, along with China, Japan, Hong Kong and Korea. DHL has aggressively invested in India over the past two years, setting up gateways in many key cities such as Delhi and Bangalore, acquiring Blue Dart and integrating Exel, the global logistics provider also present in India, into itself.DHL plans to maintain the Blue Dart brand, says Mr Price, as it enjoys extremely high brand equity.
