The Logistics industry in India has undergone extensive growth in the last three years. The global pandemic shutting down all services pushed the people to avail e-commerce services, the convenience of which further motivated the Indian consumers to opt for online retail. The expansion of retail and e-commerce in India is being fueled by rising consumerism and a sizable consumer base.
A strong economy, government measures to upgrade infrastructure, and a friendly business environment are anticipated to support the growth of this industry further in the coming years. Until 2030, the size of the Indian retail sector's market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9 percent, reaching more than $1.8 trillion. While the sector is one of the most important ones, it still remains fragmented with thousands of players at various levels offering logistical services. One of the biggest and most trusted names in this industry is Ecom Express. Established in 2012, the company plays a pioneering role in the country’s logistics landscape.
The reputation that the firm has achieved over the years is the outcome of the stellar services guided by the firm’s core leadership team. One of the highest ranking officials of the company, Vishwachetan Nadamani, Chief Operating Officer, has been a driving force in ensuring the company’s vision and objectives are realized through exemplary services. A seasoned professional with a distinguished leadership approach and a zeal for promoting growth at every level within the business, he inspires those around them to always strive to improve.
About Vishwachetan Nadamani
The quote by Peter Drucker which reads “Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations”, defines Vishwachetan Nadamani in the simplest yet precise manner. Focused on growing with the team, continuous learning, he seeks to push boundaries to increase productivity and improve outcomes to meet the demands of the consumers. “I am privileged to be part of the logistics industry when India as a country is making rapid strides and logistics is going to play a crucial role in this. There is a good mix of strong traditional players and new age tech first start ups ready to disrupt – It can't get more exciting. At Ecom Express, We have been able to bring strong focus on Unit economics in the past year through push on productivity using process overhauls and improvement in product and technology”, shares Vishwachetan Nadamani.
Educational & Professional Background
Coming from a computer science engineering background, Vishwachetan pursued a short stint as a coder before he moved on to study MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, one of India’s premier B schools. Upon completion of his education, he worked in retail. Vishwachetan possesses over 12 years of experience in the retail industry, particularly in the operations vertical which gave him in-depth, first hand knowledge of the inner workings of this vertical.
He believes strongly that this vertical is about people and empowering them to succeed by simplifying the work, training, equipping, and motivating and inspiring the team about routine and regimen. It is said that one of the biggest challenges a leader faces is not dealing with difficult clients, but rather having an unmotivated team. Vishwachetan made it his mission to ensure his team is constantly inspired to improve and grow. Despite being new to the logistics segment, Vishwachetan has quickly imbibed the core values and business propositions. His foresight coupled with high growth potential of express parcel logistics services globally has led to the company’s rapid growth.
Overcoming Challenges
Though the express logistics industry is naturally blessed with growth in demand due to the ongoing and anticipated future growth of the ecommerce industry, there are several challenges which need expert handling. One of the biggest challenges in the industry is growing profitability which is one of the main tasks that Vishwachetan and his team are focusing on. The team also strongly focuses and is accomplishing the goals of increased productivity as well as asset utilizations to improve the return on investments and fixed costs.
“Getting return on investments made on capacities that we have deployed is the most important business challenge. The E-commerce world is very dynamic and ever changing in customer mix, load at pin code mix, service level expectations ever increasing and it is a perpetual treadmill. We do our best to be closely working with customers to bring as much predictability as possible to the environment and then be prepared mentally for the hiccups”, further shares Vishwachetan. Another one of the most significant challenges which he is tackling is getting clients to pay for the costs of delivering a service. Despite having the lowest and most affordable cost structure in the industry, the consumer expectations make it one of the biggest challenges.
“I think the industry has undergone price erosion in the recent past owing to topline aspirations of select players and that needs course correction, as the industry undergoes profitability curve. We have been an advent believer in this – Ecom Express has been profitable or breakeven in the last 4 years, not at EBITDA level but at near PAT level. Hopefully better sense prevails through the industry on profit curve soon and the industry overcomes this most challenging challenge”, he further adds.
Getting return on investments made on capacities that we have deployed is the most important business challenge
Leadership Approach
Every leader has a unique philosophy on leadership which motivates his actions to drive employee productivity and encourage organizational growth. In the case of Vishwachetan, he is a firm believer of leading by example, maintaining integrity and humility, and promoting transparency and clarity of communication. He also encourages dialogue and makes it a point to listen to inputs from the team not only to get fresh perspectives, but also to learn about anticipated occurrences that help stay ahead of the game. A leader not only needs to lead by example, he also needs to be a visionary in order to propel the accomplishment of the organization’s targets.
“The primary need for having a vision is to align a large team in a direction and prepare them for a long and arduous journey. A vision that succeeds is one that connects to everyone from the leadership to the folks on the Ground, something that appears unreasonable yet possible – It is out of reach (not out of sight). My approach is best summed up by this line from Antoine de Saint-Exupery in ‘The Little Prince’: “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea”, he lastly shares. A dynamic leader, he aims to encourage the future generations of entrepreneurs to focus on learning the traditional business metrics in addition to staying abreast with newer developments. He urges them to read as it fosters a nature of continuous learning which is crucial to become a leader in any domain.
