‘Gati’ means ‘movement’ in Sanskrit, an apt name for a company that promises to be ‘ahead in reach’. Today, it is one of the top logistics solutions providers in India, apart from being a pioneer in express distribution and supply chain solutions.
The company was founded in 1989 by Mahendra Agarwal, a member of the Agarwal family (owners of TCI or Transport Corporation of India). Gati, initially one of TCI’s divisions, began as a door-to-door cargo company operating between Madras and Madurai, working out of four locations — Madras, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Hosur.
Gati was determined to focus on the customer’s requirements from day one, and promised timely, point-to-point, safe and intact delivery of cargo, by introducing several groundbreaking initiatives to implement the same.
The things that we take for granted during delivery of any item nowadays — the delivery date on the docket, cash-on-delivery (COD), the proof of delivery document, the toll-free number for checking (a first in the logistics industry) and many others — were all pioneered by Gati, and are today accepted as standard industry norms.
In 1996, Gati split from TCI and started operating independently.
The speedy growth
The organisation grew from strength to strength, year after year, effecting tie-ups with airline companies, and with the Railways, running India’s first exclusive cargo train, with the aim of speedier delivery, and introducing several revolutionary storage and transportation solutions.
Becoming one of the leaders in the logistics scene means getting several factors working in unison. While the logistics industry in earlier times was labour-intensive and involved just handling of material, warehousing and transportation; it has grown today to cover other services such as efficient packaging, precise documentation and repair management.
Transportation on a large scale using road, rail, air or shipping lanes, to different destinations and sometimes different time zones, needs more than manual support. As this industry operates 24x7x365, the IT industry is now a critically important partner. The Gati enterprise management system or GEMS, an online initiative for identifying and tracking all deliveries across the country, gives customers an idea of the exact location of their cargo at any given time.
Thus, Gati was able to handle all types of cargo, including time-critical and time-defined ware. Each year, there was an improvement in the services it offered customers, all aimed at making every delivery easier, more trackable and more convenient to send and receive.
Gati was one of the first to introduce 3PL (third party logistics). Other initiatives such as shop-floor automation, have made Gati the only Indian logistics company with 100 per cent barcoding, resulting in full transparency at all levels. The GST implementation was carried out smoothly with no delays in delivery to customers. The e-way bill for digital tracking of consignments also posed no problems for Gati as it is fully IT-equipped.
Slew of services
Gati provides the following services: Gati-KWE (Kintetsu World Express; Gati entered into a JV with this Japanese company in 2011-12): express distribution, special services, warehousing solutions, transportation services; end-to-end logistics; GST solutions; MVAT solutions; freight forwarding; e-commerce logistics; Kausar cold chain; and trading solutions.
Gati e-connect is an online shopping portal offering jewellery and pearls, chocolate and bakery, health and wellness, sweets and gifts, tea and coffee, and devotional gifts.
Gati’s client list today includes many of the top names in various businesses — Asian Paints, Dabur, Globus, LG, Mahindra, Nokia, Reebok, Siemens, Sony, 3M, Titan and Wipro.
On the international front, Gati has offices in Nepal, Thailand, Singapore, China and Hong Kong.
Gati has a fleet size of more than 5,000 trucks for delivery, a warehousing capacity exceeding three million sq ft at strategic locations, and delivers to about 19,000 pin codes across India.
Gati has established airport kiosks in Chennai and Mumbai. The latest initiative — ship your excess baggage (check in/cabin) at ₹25 per kg with Gati — is highly popular with travellers.
For the greater good
Gati has done more than its share for the environment, right from digging of ponds, rejuvenation of existing water bodies, tree planting and tree translocation, to disposing of e-waste in a safe manner. All its express distribution centres and warehouses are surrounded by greenery — planted and maintained by the company. Gati has joined with the Tagore Society for Rural Development to help preserve the Sundarbans by sponsoring the publication of study material relating to the ecological fragility of the region.
It arranged transportation of the saplings needed for the ‘one million trees in a single day’ plantation drive of the Andhra Pradesh government. The logistics company maintains the one-and-a-half km green belt stretch under the metro track in Gurugram. The latest green initiative from Gati is the adoption of electric vehicles for delivery.
Gati has always been one of the first to arrive at the scene of natural disasters, using its expertise in logistics to provide succour to afflicted people and transport and distribute relief material. In fact, a village in Bhuj has renamed itself Gati Nagar in grateful acknowledgement of the company’s aid following the Gujarat earthquake.
Great workplace for women
Gati has undertaken cleanliness, clothes donation, health and blood donation drives. It has sponsored orphanages, built several schools which have won awards, given donations to improve rural health, coordinated in the installation of solar water pumps for provision of water in the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve, and has set up community centres.
The first Indian logistics company to receive the ISO 9001 certification, Gati has won several awards, including being listed as a Consumer Superbrand. As early as 1998, Frost & Sullivan declared it The Best Logistics Company. The company has won the Amity-HR Excellence Award several times. Among others, it has won the Global Logistics Excellence Award for Best Cold Storage Infra and the ELSC Leadership awards in 2016 for Best Service Provider, Best 3PL Company of the Year, Cold Chain Transporter of the Year and Cold Chain Warehouse of the Year. Gati Kausar, which won the last two awards, was also the recipient of the ‘CII Food and Safety Award — 2016’. Most importantly, it has been recognised as one of the 100 best companies for women to work in.