Journey of Delhivery

Delhivery was established in 2011 as SSN Logistics Ltd. by Sahil Barua and Mohit Tandon, among others. Barua and Tandon, at the time, were working for Bain and Co. as consultants who found the e-commerce sector appealing. The company was initially designed as a hyperlocal express delivery service for offline stores, such as places selling food or flowers. However, it eventually pivoted into a logistics company that also serves clients who may not be from an e-commerce background. It presently also assists the online infrastructure of e-commerce companies as well. The company signed its first e-commerce client, Urban Touch, in 2011. Investors found the company to be performing well and backed it extensively. While the company had already raised money earlier, in 2014, it raised a further $35 million in funding, led by Multiples Alternate Asset Management, along with further funding from existing investors Times Internet and Nexus Venture Partners. In 2019, it raised its biggest round of ₹2,890 crore in investment from SoftBank, helping it achieve unicorn status. In May 2022, the company launched its IPO at around a ₹35 thousand crore valuation. The regular fundraising and boom in e-commerce in India have helped the company grow its sales revenue. The company has multiple subsidiaries, such as Delhivery Corp Ltd, UK, Dehlivery USA LLC, Spoton Logistics Pvt. Ltd., etc.

Business Segments of Delhivery

Delhivery operates the following business segments:

1. Express Parcel services– This segment offered Delhivery 63% of its FY 2023 revenues. This involves end-to-end 3PL or third-party logistics services.
2. Part Truck Load services– Delhivery launched its PTL freight services with a core priority on B2B express delivery in 2016. This was done after it had already achieved significant scale in its express parcel network.
3. Truck Load Services– It owns the truckload freight brokerage platform, “Orion”, which is a centralised bidding and matching software that connects shippers with fleet owners and suppliers of truckload capacity across the country.
4. Supply chain services– This involves providing integrated supply chain solutions to major e-commerce and corporate clients. Their warehousing and transportation operations and infrastructure, combined with deep data science and enterprise intelligence, allow them to expand in this field.
5. Cross Border service– Delhivery eventually started door-to-door and port-to-port express parcel services at an international level in 2018. This includes cross-border air cargo services. Delhivery’s cross-border operations are powered by their global shipping service, “Starfleet”.
6. Data Intelligence- Delhivery has actually developed over 80 applications for their various services in order to govern end-to-end transaction flows. This capability to handle a vast array of data allows it to help clients in operational decision-making.
7. Automation- The organization has increasingly automated their sortation centres and gateways across India.

Key Personnel of Delhivery

• Deepak Kapoor, Chairman and Non-Executive Independent Director

Mr. Kapoor is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India as well as the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He is a certified Fraud Examiner as per the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. He earlier worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers Private Limited as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

• Sahil Barua, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Barua studied mechanical engineering at the National Institute of Technology, Surathkal and proceeded to do a PGDM from IIM Bangalore. He had earlier worked at Bain & Company India Private Limited as a consultant.

Corporate Action

Delhivery has not announced any bonus shares, share buybacks, stock splits or rights issues so far.

Management Outlook

Delhivery recognises key challenges facing the logistics industry, such as rising fuel prices, shortages of truck drivers, and added complexity due to reverse logistics. The company is investing heavily in automation of its sorting in freight handling, including even truck loading, as well as more vehicles such as tractors and trailers. They recently gained complete control of a supply chain software solution company in order to enhance its data analytics capabilities. They are keeping the company cash-rich and having a very low debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02 as of September 2023. The growing road and other transport-related infrastructure in India is going to help the company expand its operations.