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Like Uber for transport: Truckola takes on Indian disorder and fragmentation

Disruption is coming to India's highly unorganised transport industry, offering a US$300bn opportunity for those that position themselves right. By Megan Lampinen

Indian start-up company Truckola aims to reorganise the transport industry just like Uber did for the taxi industry. Like Uber, it’s an asset-free company acting as an organiser for what is currently a very fragmented market, lacking structured data and resulting in a largely disordered supply and demand chain.

“The transport industry in India is highly fragmented, with numerous very small players. What we are attempting to do is organise it. This should help bring about greater transparency as well as a reduction in cost because of greater efficiencies,” Raghav Himatsingka, Founder and Chief Executive of Truckola, told Automotive World.

Just like Uber links drivers with individuals seeking a ride, Truckola uses data and predictive tools to assist businesses that require shipping. “We receive an application from a company with its shipping requirements. Software matches the requirements with vehicles – we source who is able to offer the lowest cost and the fastest service,” said Himatsingka. Uber may be able to process requests in a matter of minutes, but there’s a bit more planning required for freight. Truckola needs about 24 hours to come back with a quote.

Theoretically the business model could be applied to other fragmented markets, but Truckola is keeping its focus on India for now. This single market has considerable potential – the transport industry has a projected value of US$300bn by 2020.

BharatBenz trucks
Some estimates project that India’s transport industry could be worth US$300bn by 2020

Technology

For now, it’s a relatively low tech industry in India. “The cost of adopting connected technologies is expensive and limiting,” explained Himatsingka. “Now it’s all on a phone and retrospective analysis, with zero predictive analysis.” However, he sees considerable potential down the road, noting that real time connected technology could allow for much more efficient route planning on return journeys and searching for cargo opportunities. “Incorporating more technology is our grand vision. Once that happens we can have real time data on vehicle movement and the operation becomes more efficient.”

As for autonomous technology, Himatsingka regards that as still two to three decades away for the Indian market. “Those things are good to talk about and something to look out for, but India is very behind other places, like the US. We are looking out for these technologies and are well aware of what’s going on, but they are not in our focus as of now,” he said. Whether the truck is driven autonomously or by a human, Truckola’s solution will not change much.

Truckola

Near-term

For the near-term, Himatsingka and his team will be looking to expand their scale and encourage greater adoption of their platform. “These guys in the Indian transport industry are late adopters of technology, but what we are working on now is the natural next step. The industry has been suffering a big headache over the lack of transparency and the lack of technology. There is also a lot of corruption that happens,” he pointed out. “As a result, there is not much respect for the transport industry. From drivers to brokers, anyone associated with the industry is looked down on because of this association with corruption.”

One of his long-term goals is to transform transport into an aspirational industry for the country. “We want to help people lead a respectful, clean life,” Himatsingka emphasised. “This way they can earn money in a legal way rather than through corruption. We are building the platform and our team.”

At the moment, the business is running about 1,000 journeys every month. By the end of October next year, it expects to oversee about 10,000 journeys a month. “We have another round of funding come up in seven or eight months’ time and are optimistic on our targets,” he added.

 

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