"Our primary offerings are time-definite and day-definite": J.B. Singh

MOVIN, a logistics brand launched in May this year through a collaboration between UPS and InterGlobe Enterprises, has announced the extension of its network to 28 locations spanning metros and Tier I and II markets. MOVIN is also establishing hubs around the country as part of its strategic expansion, with the most recent one opening in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra.

"We set up the first nine lanes, which were in Delhi, Bombay, and Bangalore that began operations by the end of May. Within 100 days, we opened up 28 cities, which actually translates to close to 800 lanes across the country," said J.B Singh, Director, InterGlobe Enterprises and Board Member of MOVIN at a press meet held today in Mumbai.

MOVIN intends to build 10 more hubs as part of its plan to connect more regional centers by the first quarter of 2023. This will improve its products and increase its ability to capitalise on the growing opportunity in the B2B logistics industry.

"Maharashtra is really important to us. We all know that this part of the nation, as much as the southern part of the country, contributes about 15% to the country's GDP and that the entire MOVIN programme is based on 10 hubs where everything moves at breakneck speed around the country. Three of the centers are located in Maharashtra. We inaugurated Bhiwandi last week and we are going to set up in Pune and Nagpur. As a result, the whole of Maharashtra and western India will be funneled via these three centers," said Singh.

MOVIN will continue to expand its coverage across India, and its Express Early Morning (before 10:30 a.m.) and Express Mid-day (before noon) services will be added soon.

"Our primary offerings are time-definite and day-definite. So when we say it's time-definite, we have three products: morning delivery, noon delivery, and End-of-Day delivery that are on the express side. Next, we have the premium standard, that is day-definite, where we move it by road and we give the customers an exact date on which the package will arrive, and it arrives on that day, it is guaranteed. Other than that we are offering specialised movements by appointment where the person can expect the package at a definite time. This includes specialised products in case people miss the night movement, and they have something during the day, by that evening we will move it across the country and deliver it the same day.

"We are also launching the next flight option for products like pharmaceuticals or life-saving drugs or things required for surgeries that have to move super fast, it will be picked up and be out through the next available flight," said Singh.

The Express End-of-Day network includes Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Baroda, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi-NCR, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Surat, and Vijayawada.

MOVIN's Standard Premium network is present in 13 cities: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Pune.

"Maharashtra will end up having at least 12 facilities in the first phase; we currently have a facility in Bhiwandi, and we want to establish centers in Nashik, Vasai, Navi Mumbai, Solapur, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, and so on. MOVIN's recent expansion is a result of the tremendous response from our B2B customers across segments of apparel, electronics, IT peripherals, automotive components, healthcare, and e-commerce," Singh added.

In the recent National Logistics Policy announcement, drones were given a special mention by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said, "Drones would help the logistics sector,". On asking if MOVIN will consider drones as one of the medium for deliveries in the near future, Singh said: "Drones are important. These things will happen as we develop, and the Prime Minister is absolutely correct because that is the entire accessible air space that can accomplish first-mile and last-mile. However, the way we are structured is B2B, which is extremely different since the package sizes are larger than what a drone could potentially carry. Although India has a habit of leapfrogging, I'm sure we'll see some of it".