NECC looks to enter e-commerce delivery space

New Delhi: Logistics firm North Eastern Carrying Corporation Ltd (NECC) is looking to enter the e-commerce delivery space and is in talks with top e-taliers such as Flipkart and Paytm to provide last-mile delivery services, especially to the north east where it has a strong presence.

“North eastern region is a difficult terrain because of the infrastructure and connectivity issues. While delivery companies for e-taliers have been able to tap the top cities, they have a long way to go when it comes to the northeastern areas, a potentially important market for e-commerce companies,” said Sunil Jain, chief managing director, NECC, which currently handles logistics for companies such as Dabur India Ltd, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

The company claims that it operates an average of 2,000 trucks a day and has a one million square feet warehousing space spread across the country. The logistics firm, set up in 1968, has over 250 branches in India and in neighbouring Nepal and Bhutan.

A rapidly growing e-commerce sector has attracted many mainstream companies that are now pitted against the new-age and established ones like GoJavas, Delhivery, Ecom Express Pvt. Ltd which use IT tools such as hand held devices for POD (proof of delivery), card on delivery etc.

To cope with the competition, NECC is tying up with website design firms for technology upgradation. The company also plans to hire 500 people across operations, technology and delivery divisions in a phased manner. To begin with, it plans to hire 80-100 people—mostly riders—and the rest operational and managerial level executives. “This should happen before March 2016,” said Jain.

NECC posted revenue of ₹ 530 crore for the financial year ending March 2015. It is aiming for additional revenue of ₹ 200 crore from the e-commerce delivery segment in the next 24 months.