Interview with Apurva Mankad, Founder and CEO of WebXpress, an India-based firm, providing core solutions to supply chain and logistics verticals

As the Indian economy recovers, the country's Transportation and Logistics sector is at an inflection point. Comprising a wide range of service providers - warehousing, packaging, handling - and all modes of transport - air, rail, road, sea - T&L is set to reach a market size of $125 billion next year. Incidentally, it is the sector's very problems, disorganized and fragmented markets, which are offering the most lucrative opportunities.

Apurva Mankad of WebXpress agrees. "India's top retailers and FMCGs, preferred customers for logistics companies, demand professional partners with pan-India networks. This is providing an opportunity for a new generation of startups," he explains. And contrary to popular belief, Apurva says, it is T&L that is seeing the maximum startup activity. "That is due to low barriers to entry. For example, if you want to offer warehousing and trucking services, the main costs are in renting the warehouses and trucks. And with so many players, allied opportunities in offering security management and technology solutions like GPS and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) are very many," he says.

But Apurva warns that if startups are targeting big players, they must scale up to offer nation-wide services. If not, he believes opportunities lie in offering niche services like home delivery, cash management for ATMs, and online logistics systems.