Apparel Online India Magazine March 1st Issue 2019 | Page 38

ALLIED SUPPORT FOR THE INDIAN
APPAREL IMPORT INDUSTRY
Indian retail market is booming, ranked as the fifth largest global destination in terms of retail and is expected to reach US $ 115 billion by 2027, growing
at a promising CAGR of 9.7 per cent. With this growth, there is an increasing interest from manufacturing hubs that are continuously keeping an eye on
this vibrant retail industry. Until 2015, there was no way India can be said a major non-traditional apparel export market for Bangladesh as total import
by India could merely stand below US $ 80 million. However, India is on its way to topple all the predictions that were made back then as, till 2018,
the import from Bangladesh rose to nearly US $ 438 million and is expected to escalate sharply to US $ 2 billion (as predicted by Bangladesh industry
experts) in near future. The increased import and the evolution of retail market have got allied support from strong logistics and warehouse, secured
banking structure, robust factoring agencies and insurance system, which have further ensured the solidarity of imports to India from Bangladesh.
Let’s look at the analysis of how these factors affect the apparel trade between countries…
LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT
As far as India’s intake of apparel goods from Bangladesh
is concerned, Benapole land port remains the biggest
cross-over point with goods exported to India through this
land port increasing by around 65 per cent year-on-year
to US $ 4.82 billion in 10 months from January to October
2018, while export volume rose by 40 per cent year-on-
year to 3,22,000 tonnes during this period. However, the
real challenge for the retailers, distribution centres,
procurement centres or even for e-tailers remains the
efficient logistics management once the goods come to
Indian port. With fashion trends changing quickly, it is
essential that new product lines get to the retail stores
as soon as possible. But, when it comes to retail front,
the store management always faces challenges such as
visibility issues, controlling issues, freight cost as well as
clearance issues at port.
Visibility Issues
The issues related to the visibility of status of the
shipment such as what products are in transit, where
the current shipments are, when will the shipment arrive
at the destination and how much it will cost to move the
shipment from one place to another, are of concern and
can cause more expense to the company in the form of
surplus inventory and impediments in sales channel.
These bottlenecks can be eliminated by efficient logistics
management, which ensures speedy delivery of the
products and is inclusive of transportation, inventory
management, warehousing, material handling and
packaging as well as integration of information related to
management of flow of goods between the point of origin
and the point of consumption.
Control-Related Issues
In most companies, instructions are provided for routing
the shipment and guidance is given about how shipping
of materials and products should occur. However, if the
cost is incurred by the buyers, the instructions about what
route is to be chosen for delivering the shipment will be
taken by buyers. When there are many customers for a
company, these guides provided by the customers will not
38 Apparel Online India | MARCH 1-15, 2019 | www.apparelresources.com
be followed. The selection of carriers, identification and
tracking of products cannot be controlled properly in such
cases. In such instances, where lack of control occurs,
buyers have to pay more amount in shipment which will
lead to loss of customers.
Freight Cost-Related Issues
The rate of shipment is beyond the control of supply
chain management professionals. In certain cases, the
lower number of staff available, smaller cost invested for
information technology-related products, budget etc., can
cause an increase in freight charges. Doing an in-house
analysis to identify areas where loss of money occurs
will help in eliminating such cost in future. If a robust
transportation management system is implemented in the
company for shipping then it will solve many issues.
THE CHANGING FACE OF WAREHOUSING
IN INDIA
Warehousing in India has travelled far from being
glorified godowns to modern, technically fitted floors
with computerised specifications. The concrete with
low-grade steel godowns are replaced by pre-engineered
systems installed. These modern warehouses are
insulated, ventilated and climate-proof with round-
the-clock surveillance and standard quality and safety
procedures. The industry has now become the backbone
of the manufacturing and prospering e-commerce
industry. The sector is evolving fast with both the nature
of the business and the technology that is driving it, thus
undergoing dynamic changes. Warehousing is evolving
at a rapid pace with the average size increasing from
20,000 sq. ft to 2-3 lakh sq. ft. The industry estimates show
that the warehouse space in India will grow from current
909.5 million sq. ft to about 1,439 million sq. ft. by the end
of 2020.
The key players in the market are CTC Freight carriers
private limited, Atlas Logistics, APL Logistics, Global
Express Service, Safexpress, Om Logistics Pvt. Ltd.,
Falcon Freightlink, Mahindra Logistics, Patel Integrated
Logistics, DHL Supply Chain and SAL Logistics that
are reliable and highly proficient providers of freight