Exclusive interview with Shailesh Kumar, Founder, CABT Logistics

A Maverick and an independent thinker, Shailesh Kumar is the brains behind Creativity At Best Technologies - CABT, a trusted logistics platform serving businesses across multiple industries.

An entrepreneur and a go-getter, Shailesh after his graduation in B tech in 2011 envisioned and founded an e-commerce company. With him at the helm, the company navigated the founding years well although there was something amiss. Shailesh realized that the major challenge was the last mile delivery and there were no trusted companies or established behemoths addressing this logistics issue especially when it comes to Intra-city Last mile.

The challenge when it comes to meeting delivery timelines was the last-mile delivery. Identifying this gap in the industry and recognizing the need to cater to the sectors with a trusted last-mile delivery partner, Shailesh set out to furnish an intra-city logistics company with end-to-end solutions from first-mile pickup to last-mile delivery.

Shailesh recognized early that last-mile delivery would be the future of logistics and e-commerce. It was a prescient move and after launching CABT Logistics in 2018, Shailesh is now an instrumental player in the logistics sector offering seamless last-mile delivery experiences.  With the bounteous growth in technology in the logistics space and the last-mile challenges evolving at an elevated pace in the post-crisis world, CABT Logistics with Shailesh at the helm is revolutionizing the world of last-mile, facilitating logistics for all industries and merchants both established and upcoming.

With an approach of designing exemplary solutions backed by technology and prioritizing growth, Shailesh has led CABT Logistics into a successful future with a delivery partner network of more than 15000 trusted delivery personnel and 15000+ active pin codes. CABT Logistics helps businesses in reducing redundancies, optimizing supply chains and boosting profitability in a competitive business environment. From picking, and packing, to transportation, they offer tech-based solutions tailor-made to your requirements.

In a recent interaction with Urban Transport News, Shailesh shared his thoughts on the future of advanced and technology-enabled Logistics in India.

First, kindly share about your professional journey in the digital logistics industry. What inspires you to establish CABT India?

E-commerce and Q-commerce have been gaining traction exponentially amplifying the need to offer seam-less delivery experiences. This is how CABT Logistics was envisioned.  CABT was founded in 2018 with the vision of creating Excellence in the field of Logistics services to endow businesses with the right knowledge and support to scale their operations. Our mission is to facilitate fleet management and logistics for the new-age eCommerce tech startups. CABT has now grown into a comprehensive solutions partner and is now one of the Fastest Growing First Mile and Last Mile delivery platforms in India spread across 20+ states.

What are the salient features of the CABT Partner App and how it is different from the other Mobility Apps?

We provide a safe, affordable, and stress-free logistic platform.

Diversifying into Warehousing, First Mile, Mid Mile & Last Mile services, CABT has gained a strong foothold in 1640+ cities across India, becoming an intracity logistics powerhouse since its inception in 2018. Aided by its industry-agnostic nature, we are galvanizing the logistics landscape.

Our strength is the end-to-end visibility we offer to all the stakeholders involved ensuring the application of a seamless supply chain and a more cost-effective and efficient solution for our clients.

I believe what makes our interface different is the bandwidth of services we offer, the ease of access and the customized solutions we bring to the table. With a delivery partner network of more than 20000 trusted delivery personnel and 12000+ active pin codes, we help businesses reduce redundancies, optimise supply chains and boost profitability in a competitive business environment. From picking, and packing, to transportation and warehousing we offer tech-based solutions that are tailor-made.

How does CABT Partner App make the riders digitally enabled to meet any demand coming to the brand?

- A user-friendly interface is what is most important. We provide our partners with proper orientation and help them understand the process. Besides this, the advanced analytics from real-time data helps in taking preventive measures and aligning our riders accordingly. For us, our rider partners are very important and a key part of the organisation.

Do you provide digital logistics solutions for global clients? What are your future expansion and investment plans in this segment?

Yes, we do. We are actively working towards expansion. We are now gearing up to invest INR 4,80,00,000 to build about 60 micro-fulfilment centres across India. This investment in micro-warehouses comes in the wake of the E-commerce and Q-commerce boom, especially in a post-crisis world. The idea is to bring automation to warehousing and help companies with route optimization.

The second crucial and major chunk of our investment is in the EV segment. Individually as a company and also as a joint venture with OEM, we are bringing EVs on board for our logistics operations. We have currently bought 50 EVs with an investment of approximately INR, 60 lakhs. We aim to buy about 2000 EVs by the end of 2022.

What are your thoughts on Govt. of India's Digital Transformation initiatives?

Today, logistics is about offering a seamless and time-optimized service to the consumer while maintaining operational and time optimization. Especially after the pandemic, seamless logistics has become the main framework on which a business is built. The government’s initiatives for the digital transformation of India are crucial to educating the sector about automation and digital literacy. It also brings more confidence in the collective goal of working towards digitization.

Besides this, the strategies and efforts also help in positioning India as a strong digital economy with solutions for the global market as well.

Who are your competitors and how do you find your start-up well in position among them?

Logistics is a very crucial space right now and there are many incumbent companies and start-ups who are coming up with some great solutions. I think for us what is important is to achieve what we have set out to achieve and help the logistics sector evolve. From investing in EVs to setting up warehouses and micro-warehouses for our clients both big and small, we are working aggressively towards expansion and automation. That I believe is our strength.

CABT Logistics is planning to invest Rs 4,80,00,000 to open about 60 micro fulfilment centres across the country. How will this investment plan meet the order demands from D2C brands?

Logistics are of paramount importance in achieving operational optimization, especially for D2C brands. The investment will ensure that CABT Logistics is equipped to help businesses scale up by furnishing orders in a timely and cost-effective fashion. The first phase of expansion will witness the setting up of 30-35 micro fulfilment centres in tier 1 cities. Setting up micro-warehouses in delivery strategic places will not only shorten the distance that the rider has to cover but also reduces last-mile problems by a significant margin. The D2C brands will be able to cater to the Q-commerce market and offer same-day deliveries to their consumers thus catapulting business growth.

The second phase will include expansion in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. The pandemic ushered in the digital era and brought remote regions into its fold as well. Micro-warehouses in tier 2 and tier 3 cities will aid CABT Logistics’ clients in shaving off minutes and help speed up the delivery process.

How digital transformation will help India to achieve its carbon neutrality goals?

With thousands of vehicles plying the roads around the globe every day, it is important to cut back on carbon emissions and optimize energy and resource consumption to not burden the planet. Adoption of digital transformation and tech-savvy practices like setting up automated warehouses will help in reducing emissions.

From first-mile delivery to last-mile delivery, a product goes through a lot of processes. Deliveries do use a major chunk of energy resources and fuel consumption. Micro-warehouses in delivery strategic places not only reduce the distance that the rider will have to cover but also lesser first-mile deliveries between cities will save on air-fuel consumption. This strategy will reduce last-mile emissions by a significant margin.

Besides this, automation and technological advancement are key for route optimization. Currently, once the customer feeds in their address, there is no software or algorithm in place to help figure out the shortest route for delivery. This does lead to energy wastage and delays deliveries as well. Advancements in clean energy vehicles are another way that digital transformation can help reduce the carbon footprint.