The CEO of SpotOn, a Bangalore-based logistics firm,  Abhik Mitra talked to The Pioneer. Here are excerpts of his interview taken by Vikas Kumar:

Recently you developed Piece Level Tracking System to track products being delivered. How does it work?

The technology that we use for tracking a consignment or boxes/pieces within a consignment is a combination of track and trace system which is supported by Piece Level Tracking System. Piece Level Tracking means the box of a consignment can be tracked. A consignment may be from say a auto spare parts to a distributor. He may be sending one consignment box. But in that one consignment note there could be 10 boxes. so we can track each box in that consignment. The technology has been developed in house. What it helps us to do and the customer to do is know exactly where his shipment is, in which vehicle it is and in which hub or service centre it is.

Purpose of this technology is visibility for the customer and control for SpotOn; so that we know where every shipment is.  And we can move the shipment fast enough and correctly so that we make an accurate delivery.

You are going to provide air services in 2019 across India. What are your plans to provide the same to neighbouring countries in particular and world in general? And why are you coming up with air services after long seven years of establishment of your company?

The air services that we are starting in April 2019, for which the work has already started in building the IT platform and building the infrastructure that we need is something we are going to do for domestic air cargo. Where the product will be available to our existing customers and B2B customers. We believe this could have happened a little earlier but as you know there was a transaction was going on. Our earlier investors were existing and new investors were coming in so as a result of that we just delayed the whole process by a period of around 6-8 months.

We started planning process for this about a year ago when we knew the new investors were coming on board. And now we have started work so that we can launch the product by April

What are the challenges logistics sectors is facing due to rising fuel prices? Tell us how hard is it to run operations during such volatile market conditions?

Of course it is hard.. having said that the stability of network is never compromised, because service is most important thing. We typically get a pass through to our venders who compensate us for higher prices, and we also get compensated by our customers. Yes there is a time lag but while it is challenging but it is not that challenging that can affect our business.

Is logistics industry facing any hurdles due to Government rules and regulations? What suggestions would you like to give to the Government so that logistics sector easily can comply with the regulations?

Not really. The GST has been a very positive step for us. E-Way bill has been positive. Of course the implementation and execution takes a little bit of time. And the Government has been listening to us in terms of our situations; especially under the express industry because as an express industry we do not move from one pick up point to one delivery point. We move through hubs and spokes. And obviously large number of e-way bills need to be made, which are made using technology as manually it is impossible to do that and I don’t think there are any negatives. These are positives.

Obviously continued investment in infrastructure, will help the industry. The ability to move through tolls (I understand the need for tolls) - but if trucks could move faster through toll booths faster than what happens now it would improve the speed and predictability of the network.

Did the recent truck union’s strike hamper your operations?

Yes of course it did, because our trucks were stopped and held back at different places. Loads were in the trucks. Customers did not get the service they should have got. Couple of the trucks was also attacked. Fortunately we didn’t lose anything. A strike does impact the industry.

In an express network- for us a network is like a loop. A truck leaves Delhi to Mumbai and there are 2 en-route after that. The truck which has left from Delhi needs to reach Mumbai and go back. If this loop is broken it certainly takes time to settle down.