On behalf of the Board of Directors of your Company, Avinash Cargo Pvt Ltd., it is my privilege to welcome you all to the 21st Annual General Meeting. The year has gone with challenges in many ways. It was a year in which the overall business environment was substantially silenced. Markets faced the twin challenges of stunted growth and squeezed margins. Our Company routed such business challenges through the course of the year, while simultaneously preparing for a new future.
Indian Economy
By all means, India stands alone as an island of hope in an otherwise volatile, and ambiguous, global economy. With a projected growth rate of 7.0 – 7.75 percent, India is the fastest growing major economy in the world. Also, continued macro-economic stability over the last couple of years has helped India sustain itself as an attractive destination for foreign capital. Having recognized these positives, it is important to standardize expectations, since the Indian economy has become ever so intertwined with the world economy over the last decade.
The infrastructure sector has garnered a record budgetary allocation of Rs 2.21 lakh crore, of which Rs 97,000 crores is earmarked for 10,000 kilometers of new road projects alone, with additional funds being allocated for upgrading 50,000 kilometers of existing state highways Progress on Dedicated Freight Corridor has been stepped up. Finally, a plan for modernizing existing ports and building new ports along India’s long coastline has also been unveiled. Thus, there is a comprehensive focus on improved infrastructure by building a network of roads, rail, ports, and airports; this predicts very well for the growth of the Indian logistics industry
The logistics industry will be a direct beneficiary of these developments. Interstate movement of goods will become easier with reduced procedures and restrictions at state borders. All this will mean tremendous business opportunity for established end-to-end logistics players, ACPL. In light of all of these developments, and commitments, the year ahead is expected to be the start of an extended period of sustainable double-digit growth in the Indian Logistics industry.
Future ahead
All of us are able to notice and experience the massive transformation that is happening in today’s society. Technology and social media have caused an unbelievable change in the behavior and expectations of customers, employees, and other stakeholders. ACPL needs to keep leap and walk in tune with such changes happening around us. Only then will our company step ahead of the competition and maintain its prominent position as surface transport and logistics service provider. As I described earlier, 2016 and beyond, portend well for the Indian Logistics Industry, supported by government policy initiatives, tax reforms and focus on infrastructure building. The logistics industry will be a direct beneficiary of the growth momentum triggered by these efforts. Equally, it is important to recognize that the ultimate winner within the logistics industry will be one who is able to outpace the competition by delivering on the ever increasing demands of service, quality and cost in both the B2B sector. To conclude, the company has identified three key pillars of change namely Technology, People and Customer Satisfaction.
Talent
We are in the need of a strong talent base to deliver on the strategic priorities in the near future considering noteworthy changes to our company. Leadership has been re-organized along interdependent functional chains to drive greater functional excellence to address the need. Talent mix is being renovated to infuse further technology capability and build higher-order analytics skills at each operating level. Also, there is an enormous focus on building a performance driven culture to invite and preserve the best talent in the industry.
Technology
ACPL has always been an innovator in the cargo and logistics industry when it comes to adopting new technology and best practices. In the last few months, ACPL has undertaken an ambitious project to automate its network operations using Barcode Scans on each and every package across the country. Such extensive technology automation is exceptional in the surface transportation and logistics solution industry in India, especially in the context of ACPL’s scale and network reach. Thus, our company is in the process of adding on a substantial new operations capability that will help to deliver value to the customers. It will help further improve efficiency and productivity in our operations to delight our numerous customers.
Customer Satisfaction
In the emerging market context, surface transportation and logistics business is no more restricted to being a provider of distribution service but has expanded in scope to become an effective business partner to the customers. Recognizing this change, ACPL is continuously evolving its approach by placing customer satisfaction at the very center of the business decision-making process. Focus on new product innovations has been ramped up. This is even more relevant in the context of an imminent GST regulation that will force a significant change in the supply chain models adopted by our customers for their own business operations.
Our Directors are very confident that fast marched progress on these three pillars of change will help accelerate your company’s growth towards achieving our customers’ satisfaction, and to our shareholders’ delight.
Acknowledgements
As I conclude, may I, on behalf of the Board and employees of our Company thank you, and also thank our customers, vendor partners, investors, government and bankers for their continued support and encouragement.
