Connect India, a last mile delivery company launched in August 2015, has announced their tie-up with United Parcel Service (UPS) and CSC e SPV, a special purpose vehicle formed by the Government of India. The company which has been expanding extensively since its launch, has created a network of over 3,500 Connect India Centres (CICs).

Connect India model is designed to deliver with the assurance of time definiteness and convenience by establishing a neighborhood distribution network across India apart from leveraging underutilised economic infrastructure like neighborhood kirana stores, medical shops, mobile stores and internet cafes, etc. and can also serve as a last mile delivery point.

Th e company said strong momentum will drive it to establish 15,000 CICs through the CSC Channel and other small entrepreneurs by March 2016.

Th e company’s vision is to eventually establish 50,000 Connect India Centres by the end of FY 16-17.

“To achieve this milestone, it was important for Connect India to partner with the existing and under-utilised infrastructure established by the government in the form of Common Services Centres (CSCs), which are almost 150,000 in number currently across the country,” it said.

These centres, which have been helping people in rural areas avail themselves of various e-governance services will also serve as a lastmile delivery option and cater to the e-commerce demands in the country with this new partnership.

“We aim to become the drop-box for all domestic, international and banking needs in India,” said L. R. Sridhar, founder and CEO of Connect India. “Th e Indian e-retail market is expected to grow to US$20 billion by 2017 and about 3-4 million packages will be delivered in next three years, which can only be achieved by creating last-mile distribution through strategic partnerships.

“Our objective is to connect 100% serviceable pin codes in India, thus, connecting rural India to urban India and India to the world. Th is will entail, fi rst and foremost, evaluating possible business models and riding the wave of mobile Internet connectivity to create a relevant marketplace platform for rural India.

“Even as we explore new alliances to improve our last-mile distribution capabilities, being UPS’s Authorised Shipping Outlet will open up a whole new international market for our customers. Th e tie-up with UPS will help connect potential economic village clusters in India to the 220 countries of the world through reliable trade lines provided by Connect India and UPS,” Sridhar said.

Commenting on the partnership, Dinesh Kumar Tyagi, CEO, CSC SPV, said: “Th e CSCs were designed to be Change Agents as it promotes rural entrepreneurship, builds rural capacities and livelihoods, enables community participation and effects collective action for social change by having a key focus on the rural citizen. It will be mutually benefitting to both CSCs and Connect India as we together establish a robust last mile logistic model and create more job opportunities through this tieup.

Th is will also help e-commerce firms have a better reach in the smallest and remotest villages and towns”.