FedEx rules out major India investments in the near future

Press Trust of India Updated - May 07, 2014 at 11:03 PM.

The company will focus on leveraging the advantages gained from integrating the AFL and UFL businesses

Growth pattern: David Canavan, Vice-President, Domestic Operations, FedEx Express India, addresses a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday. - PAUL NORONHA

Global logistics major FedEx today said it has fully integrated the AFL and UFL businesses in the country, almost three years after acquiring them, to achieve scale and ruled out making major investments in the near future.

“We have doubled the number of vehicles in the fleet to 1,000, expanded coverage to 19,000 Pin codes from the earlier 4,000 and increased the office and hub space to over 1 million square feet from the earlier 3 lakh square feet,” Vice-President for Domestic Operations, David Canavan, told reporters here.

He said the company will not be investing much in the immediate future and instead focus on leveraging the advantages gained from the integration. Investments in the future will depend on GDP expansion, he said.

Canavan said he is confident that FedEx will grow faster than the industry, although he declined to give details, citing confidentiality concerns on commercial information. Rakesh Shalia, Managing Director for marketing, said typically, the ground movement industry will grow 15-20 per cent per annum, while air cargo would grow 10-12 per cent in the near future.

The company acquired two domestic market-focused companies, AFL and UFL in 2011 to increase its footprint.

Canavan said the integration of the business, which has created a single unit with over 7,000 employees, did not take too long and stressed that the final integration was achieved a few months ahead of schedule.

Published on May 7, 2014 17:33