The whole logistics sector has seen a major shake-up in the last few years, right from tech aggregators who came into the scene with a promise to disrupt, challenges that Covid brought on the table to a phase where oil prices become a pain point for margins. After all the challenges, the sector has emerged stronger as some companies restructured their operations to stay profitable. There are many facts about the logistics industry which might surprise many. Just to mention a few, a metal major has such a large fleet of owned trucks that the unit itself can be listed as a separate company and probably would figure in the top 5 logistic companies. Last year at one point of time, the market cap of one single company was higher than the market cap of all the private sector companies put together and interestingly that company was in the red.
Logistics is a very broad term, right from warehousing companies to goods transporters all form part of this chain. But if one looks at the listed space in India, it is transportations companies which dominate. Logistics as a sector has seen many headwinds both in terms of operations and structural challenges. Any sector which goes through this phase tends to bring out clear winners and that is when we tend to see a re-rating. It is a sector which is direct play on the economic growth of a country. The reason, if the economy is doing well, more goods will be produced and they will have to be transported and that is why in large developed economies, logistic companies form part of a very important transportation index. Given the recent GDP numbers have been better than expected and it is projected that for the next couple of years India would be the fastest growing economy, the logistic sector is likely to remain in focus.
There are many facts about the logistics industry which might surprise many. Just to mention a few, a metal major has such a large fleet of owned trucks that the unit itself can be listed as a separate company and probably would figure in top 5 logistic companies. Second, in logistics, the major share is with the unorganized sector. Third right from a company which restructured its operations by selling some parts of business and then taking over another company to get into micro delivery space. To a company which increased its fleet size dramatically in the post covid era to cater to increased economic activity for auto and metal space. The whole logistics sector has seen a major shake up in the last few years.