In today’s world, logistics is considered the backbone of an economy, and this holds true for India’s logistics industry, which is among the fastest evolving. CEVA Logistics projects that India will continue its economic performance and positive outlook, creating a significant opportunity within India’s logistics sector.

Rising domestic consumption and manufacturing trends should boost the demand for logistics and alter several aspects of the supply chain, including freight forwarding, warehousing, and last-mile delivery. Never before has the logistics industry’s contribution to the nation’s economic growth been more persuasive.

Although the logistics industry in India is fragmented, companies across the globe are looking at India and the broader APAC region as a unified production base and a market with substantial potential due to increased planned outlay, improved infrastructure facilities, and greater access to global markets. Such prospects are presenting an opportunity for logistics industry players to expand their business and capitalise on the rising domestic and global developments, including trends like e-commerce.

CEVA Logistics, part of the CMA CGM Group, is growing both organically and through M&A. Our India business has grown at a steady pace. Today, we are an established player and rank among the top in air and ocean. In the past two and half years, we have also invested in growing our ground and rail and contract logistics businesses. Our ability to predict trends, create solutions, and quickly adapt to changing market situations is strengthened by our worldwide network. Our understanding of the domestic market coupled with our global insight has given us a competitive advantage and consequently enabled us to maintain long-lasting relationships with our customers across markets and geographies. With the acquisition of Stellar Value Chain Solutions, we will continue to help our domestic customers grow even faster.

The deal is a value driver for enabling growth and increasing business efficiency. With the acquisition, we will strengthen our scale and capabilities to boost our presence in the India logistics market and provide integrated end-to-end supply chain logistics solutions to our current and future customers.

As a result of the deal, CEVA will acquire approximately 7,700,000 square feet of space across more than 70 facilities in 21 cities across India, in addition to our existing presence of 75 locations across 35 cities. Also, we will inherit nearly 8,000 full-time and temporary employees, which will enable us to build scale and diversify our domestic presence. Along with this improved infrastructure, we are putting an increased emphasis on the adoption of new technologies to drive greater efficiency and sustainability.

In addition to India, the acquisition complements recent growth in our contract logistics business with an opportunity to explore other prospects in the Asia Pacific region. We also expect the deal to boost our freight management and customs business in the region. With new manufacturing trends and supply chain routes developing, we are confident that our global network and wide range of logistics solutions provides companies in APAC with the agility needed to navigate changing market conditions.

We are a people-centric organisation, and work as one team to provide and deliver the best customer service to our customers. We call that promise responsive logistics, and it takes each and every one of our 110,000 global employees to ensure that level of dedication to the customer. We look forward to welcoming the Stellar team so that our combined team of experts can work together to assure seamless execution for our customers. We’re confident in our integration plan to ensure the transition is a success and that new employees feel welcomed into the culture.

Ultimately, we believe that our new level of scale will allow us to carry out our mission of connecting people, products and providers all around the world. With our strong teams and expertise, we will continue to develop the solutions that unlock value for our customers in their respective markets. With continued growth and our customer-centric focus in India and around the world, CEVA is well-positioned to meet our goal of becoming a top 5 global logistics player.

Words by Paras Rawal, Managing Director for India