‘Buy one, get one free' signboards have become ubiquitous in shopping malls today. There is a similar, yet unseen, trend in the domestic commercial vehicles (CVs) market — only in this case it is working in the reverse direction. Here, buyers of commercial vehicles, including large transport houses and logistics companies, are offering to buy vehicles from auto majors provided they get one or two drivers along with the vehicle, even at a cost.

This was precisely what a team of officials from Ashok Leyland, led by its new Managing Director, Mr Vinod K. Dasari, experienced when they were recently pitching for their products with RCI Logistics, a large road container operator.

The trend turns the headlights on one of the problems that seem to be slowing down growth in the CV segment — shortage of experienced drivers. With about three lakh CVs hitting the Indian roads every year, the shortage of skilled drivers is only ballooning, especially with the new models of vehicles tanking up with more sophisticated technologies.

Even auto majors are concerned that the problem may put their sales pace on a lower gear. To combat this, companies such as Ashok Leyland and M&M, are rolling out initiatives to generate new trained drivers.

“There are 32 lakh trucks plying in India today, but we have a pool of about 30 lakh drivers, meaning there is a shortfall of two lakh drivers at present. And out of the 30 lakh drivers, about five lakh would have been trained by Ashok Leyland. This is an issue of concern,” Mr Dasari told Business Line.

Industry players say that lorry and truck owners are today forced to keep between five and 10 per cent of their fleet idle due to shortage of drivers. “Even new acquisitions have to wait for days before taking to the road,” a member of the Hyderabad Goods Transport Association (HGTA) said.

Transport operators have doubled the average salaries of drivers from Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000 per month about two years ago to about Rs 10,000 today to get new drivers on board. “But I do not think only higher salaries can solve the problem. I think that the transport associations and the Government together should create better facilities along the highways to provide a better quality of working atmosphere for drivers,” says Mr Pawan Gupta, President of HGTA.

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