Inside Indian Ecommerce sector's favourite logistics hub: Bhiwandi

最受印度电子商务行业欢迎的物流中心：比万迪

The road from Mumbai to Nashik cuts through swathes of green pastures. About 30 km into the journey comes the city of Bhiwandi, and then the scenery begins to change. On the right side of the road, the greenery gets punctuated by buildings spread across the landscape wearing the unmistakable look of warehouses — large premises, conical tin sheds and doorways big enough to accommodate heavy commercial vehicles.

On the left side of the road are more warehouses. Only, these are taller, younger-looking buildings stacked against each other in a queue that goes on for several kilometres. In place of decrepit tin sheds, these have steel claddings often seen on industrial buildings internationally. Pucca roads replace the pastures on this side of the city.

These newfangled warehouses have come up in Bhiwandi — known for its century-old power looms industry which still exsts in the interiors of the city — only in the last five years or so. Here, online retail companies such as Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, Pepperfry, Grofers and Bigbasket, among others, store their goods in what the industry calls fulfilment centres or FCs. When a customer places an order on one of these online platforms, the item ordered is packed in these FCs, sorted according to the delivery location and dispatched in a delivery vehicle for its final destination. Third-party logistics companies (called 3PLs) such as DHL, Blue DartNSE -2.39 %, DTDC, Safexpress — the entities that deliver these goods to the customers’ doorsteps — also have their own FCs here. Like a local train on a busy Mumbai station, a delivery truck enters and exts these centres every 30 seconds.

从孟买到纳希克的公路穿过一望无际的绿色牧场。经过大约30公里的旅程，就来到了比万迪，风景开始有所变化了。道路的右边，绿色的植物被散布在各处的建筑物打断，这些建筑物有着明显的仓库外观——房屋巨大、锥形的锡棚和大到可以容纳重型商用车的车道。

道路的左边仓库更多。不过，这些建筑物都比较高，看起来比较新，它们一幢挨一幢，长达几公里。这些棚子里没有破旧的锡棚，取而代之的是国际上经常在工业建筑上看到的钢铁外壳。普卡路取代了城市这一边的牧场。

这些新奇的仓库出现在比万迪，是发生在最近5年内的事。亚马逊、Flipkart、Nykaa、Pepperfry、Grofers和Bigbasket等在线零售公司将商品存储在这里的物流中心。当客户在这些在线平台上下订单时，订购的物品就会在此根据送货地点进行分类，然后用送货车辆运送到最终目的地。第三方物流公司，如DHL, Blue DartNSE -2.39 %， DTDC, Safexpress -这些企业把商品送到客户的门口。跟孟买繁忙车站上的列车一样，每30秒就有一辆货车进出这些中心。

Online retailers and 3PLs take warehouses like these on lease to avoid large investments required to establish one. In fact, most ecommerce companies tend to lease all logistics services to keep the cost low while delivering efficiently across the country. According to a recent KPMG report, 51% of all ecommerce deliveries were executed by external logistics service providers (LSPs). India’s e-commerce retail logistics market, it said, was valued at $1.35 billion in 2018 and was projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 36% in the next five years.

At the heart of this growth lies Bhiwandi, the logistics haven from where ecommerce companies manage deliveries for the entire western region — roughly 30-35% of all online retail sales across players and categories.

Though there are similar warehousing clusters in Gurgaon, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, it is Bhiwandi, northeast of Mumbai, that is becoming the flag-bearer of the booming logistics business. Why? Because the city has evolved into a first-of-its-kind ecommerce logistics hub in India. Here, a broker is readily available to facilitate an ecommerce player’s logistics needs at every step — from their warehouse to the customer’s house. These include land-leasing services; management of warehouses; manpower supply for packing, sorting, loading and unloading of goods, trucks and truck drivers to ferry those goods; security and catering staff, among other things. Hundreds of them help ecommerce companies serve customers in states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa. To put it succinctly, Bhiwandi is like a supermarket for ecommerce players.

网上零售商和第三方物流公司租用这样的仓库，避免了自行建立仓库所需的大量投资。事实上，大多数电子商务公司倾向于租赁物流服务以维持低成本，同时在全国范围内高效配送。根据毕马威最近的一份报告，51%的电子商务的运输是由外部物流服务提供商完成的。报告称，2018年印度电子商务零售物流市场价值13.5亿美元，预计未来5年复合年增长率为36%。

这一增长的核心是比万迪，这里是电子商务公司管理整个西部地区配送的物流天堂——约占所有在线零售商和品类的30-35%。

尽管古尔冈、班加罗尔和海得拉巴也有类似的仓储集群，但孟买东北部的比万迪正成为蓬勃发展的物流行业的旗手。为什么？因为这座城市已经发展成为印度第一个电子商务物流中心。在这里，中介可以随时为电子商务玩家的每个物流需求提供帮助—从他们的仓库到客户家中。其中包括土地租赁服务；仓库的管理；包装、分拣、装卸货物的人力供应，以及运送货物的卡车和卡车司机；安保和餐饮人员等等。其中数百家帮助电子商务公司服务于马哈拉施特拉邦、古吉拉特邦和果阿邦等邦的客户。简而言之，比万迪就像是电子商务玩家的超市。

The business has grown at warp speed for key stakeholders in this gig — builders, property dealers, staffing companies and the local workforce, among others. The increasing demand for more warehousing space has led to a 150% jump in land prices in the last 10 years. According to a recent Knight Frank’s India Warehousing Market Report, in 2017, the warehousing transaction volumes in Bhiwandi recorded a 230% yearon-year growth over 2016.

Around 5 million sq ft of warehousing space has so far been absorbed into building warehousing parks in 2019 alone, says Jasmine Singh, country head of industrial & logistics services at CBRE, a commercial real estate services company.

However, Bhiwandi has its own set of challenges. During monsoon, the city makes headlines for fatalities due to infrastructure failure. Instances of illegal acquisition of agricultural land to build warehouses are not uncommon either. But there are at least a couple of good reasons that have put Bhiwandi a notch above other suitable locations, say stakeholders.

The rentals here are cheaper than many industrial hubs in the country — Rs 11-20 per sq ft a month against Rs 14-22 for the Ghaziabad cluster and Rs 14-24 in Chennai. In the unorganised sector, word is that you can get a rate as low as Rs 9 per sq ft a month in Bhiwandi. “It is because of such competitive rates that most ecommerce companies have their largest warehousing hub in this area,” says Dhiren Shah, 43, a Mumbai-based realty broker.

In 2012, companies like Pepperfry started setting up bigger FCs in the city. Since 2014, Amazon has set up seven such centres in Bhiwandi — the highest number across its major warehousing hubs in India. Location is another factor as Bhiwandi is not too far from Mumbai and is well connected to the thoroughfares in the region. Another important factor — perhaps the clincher — is labour.

对于这一行业的关键利益相关者—建筑商、房地产商、人力资源公司和当地劳动力等—而言，该行业正以惊人的速度增长。对更多仓储空间的需求不断增长，导致土地价格在过去10年里上涨了150%。莱坊最近发布的《印度仓储市场报告》显示，2017年，比万迪的仓储交易额同比增长230%。

商业地产服务公司世邦魏理仕的工业及物流服务地区主管贾斯敏•辛格表示，仅2019年一年，印度就吸收了约500万平方英尺的仓储空间用于建设仓储园区。

然而，比万迪也面临着挑战。在雨季，这个城市因为基础设施的不堪成为新闻头条。非法征用农地建造仓库的例子也并不少见。但利益相关者表示，至少有两个很好的理由让比万迪比其他城市略胜一筹。

这里的租金比印度许多工业中心都要便宜—每月每平方英尺11至20卢比，而加兹阿巴德和金奈的租金分别为14至22卢比和14至24卢比。据说在比万迪，你每月可以得到每平方英尺9卢比的补贴。43岁的孟买房地产经纪人迪伦•沙阿表示:“正是由于租金如此具有竞争力，大多数电商公司才在该地区拥有最大的仓储中心。”

2012年，佩珀弗莱等公司开始在伦敦金融城设立更大的金融中心。自2014年以来，亚马逊在比万迪建立了7个这样的中心，这是其在印度主要仓储中心中数量最多的。地理位置是另一个因素，因为比万迪离孟买不远，而且与该地区的道路连接良好。另一个重要因素—或许是决定性因素—则是劳动力。

Ashish Shah, founder & COO of Pepperfry explains why ecommerce companies prefer Bhiwandi even though labour costs are higher here. "Even the infrastructure is much better in cities like Bengaluru. However, the high work ethic, a no-nonsense attitude, and the credibility of the Bhiwandi workforce make it our No. 1 warehousing location," he says.

"During peak season, poaching of labour between Amazon and Flipkart happens quite often. But you don't hear cases of data theft and such. People in Bhiwandi have a reputation to maintain," says Sumit Patil, 34, director at Trident Human Resource Management, a staffing company that manages labour and logistics duties for clients like Flipkart, Bigbasket and Nykaa, among others.

The ecommerce space in the city gives a means of livelihood to close to 3.5 lakh people from the area and nearby towns.

Realty dealer Dhiren owns one-fourth of a 12,000 sq ft warehousing space with three other property dealers in the area. "There are no walls within the building so we can easily make room for bigger clients. But if required, we can separate the space using makeshift partitions." This flexbility has helped Bhiwandi fare better than other logistics hubs.

佩珀弗莱创始人兼首席运营官阿希什•沙阿解释了为什么电子商务公司更喜欢比万迪，尽管这里的劳动力成本更高。“班加罗尔这样的城市，基础设施也要好得多。然而，这里良好的工作道德、严肃的态度和比万迪员工的信誉，使它成为我们的头号仓库，”他说。

“在旺季，亚马逊和Flipkart之间的挖人事件经常发生。但你不会听到数据盗窃之类的案件。三叉腿人力资源管理公司的董事、34岁的Sumit Patil表示。该公司为Flipkart、Bigbasket和Nykaa等客户管理劳动力和后勤工作。

该市的电子商务空间为该地区和附近城镇的近35万人口提供了谋生手段。

在该地区1.2万平方英尺的仓储面积中，房地产交易商迪伦与另外三家房地产交易商拥有四分之一的仓储空间。“大楼里没有墙，所以我们可以很容易地为大客户腾出空间。但如果需要，我们可以用临时的隔板来分隔空间。”这种灵活性使比万迪比其他物流中心更有优势。

Bhiwandi also scores high on Amazon's charts for its people's entrepreneurial instincts, an Amazon spokesperson tells ET Magazine. "We do a lot of community engagement programmes in areas like education, health, sanitation and women empowerment across 15 warehousing centres in India. Some of the beneficiaries of these initiatives from Bhiwandi saw an opportunity in using their training to provide ancillary services at our FCs. This helped them earn a livelihood and become financially independent," the spokesperson adds.

Ganga Sonavale, popularly known as "Ganga tai", is one such beneficiary. Seeing her penchant for business during a self-help group training, Amazon's CSR unit asked if she would like to run a canteen at its FCs in the city. "I seized the opportunity with both hands," says the 35-year-old resident of Vahuli village in Bhiwandi. She started with serving 20 meals four months ago. Today, she serves close to 500 meals across four Amazon FCs in the region, earning over Rs 7,000 a month.

While the power looms largely employ skilled labour, the ecommerce gig has given avenues to unskilled labour, says Jai Bhagwan's Thakker. It has changed the lives of people like Sonavale. "Before the catering business, I was just a housewife. My role as a housewife is very important, but it doesn't give any financial returns and respect in society. Now I am considered a financially independent woman in my village. Younger women come to me for advice." She now wants more women to join her business so that she can expand further.

亚马逊的一位发言人告诉《ET》杂志，在亚马逊的榜单上比万迪也因人们的创业本能而得分很高。“我们在印度的15个仓储中心开展了很多社区参与项目，包括教育、健康、卫生和妇女赋权等领域。来自比万迪的这些项目的一些受益者看到了利用他们的培训在我们的金融服务中心提供辅助服务的机会。这帮助他们谋生，并在经济上独立，”发言人补充道。

Ganga Sonavale就是这样一个受益者。在一次自助小组培训中，看到她对商业的兴趣，亚马逊的CSR部门问她是否愿意在该市的FCs经营一家餐厅。“我抓住了这个机会，”这位住在比万迪瓦胡里村的35岁居民说。4个月前，她开始提供20份餐。如今，她在该地区的四家亚马逊门店提供近500份餐，每月收入超过7000卢比。

贾伊•巴格万的塔克表示，尽管电力行业在很大程度上雇佣了熟练工人，但电子商务行业为非技术工人提供了就业机会。它改变了Sonavale这样的人的生活。“在从事餐饮业之前，我只是一个家庭主妇。我作为一个家庭主妇的角色是非常重要的，但不会给我带来任何经济回报和社会尊重。现在我在村里成了一个经济独立的女人。年轻的女人会来找我咨询。”她现在希望有更多的女性加入她的生意，这样她就可以进一步扩张规模。

《印度经济时报》网站读者评论：

译文来源：三泰虎     http://www.santaihu.com/48847.html      译者：Joyceliu

外文链接：https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Shri Mahesh

Let us supply rice and dal at 3 rupees per kilo each to all religious places and feed 1000 people for 2000 rupees or 20 dollars per meal. For hundred dollars or 7000 rupees, we can feed 3 meals a day to 1000 people. We can cook at these cloud kitchens or religious places and supply neighboring schools and populations. This way, we can efficiently cook for thousands or millions of people and use our resources efficiently. Let us use Government Funds to set up cloud kitchens at all Temples and religious places. Lets install smart modern toilets. We can fix a lot of problems with nutrition and healthcare under this scheme. This is even better than food or gas subsidies. Lets start now.

让我们以每公斤3卢比的价格向所有宗教场所供应大米和木豆，以每餐2000卢比或20美元的价格养活1000人。花上几百美元或7000卢比，我们就能养活1000人一天三顿饭。我们可以在这些云厨房或宗教场所做饭，供应邻近的学校和人口。通过这种方式，我们可以有效地为成千上万的人做饭，并有效地利用我们的资源。让我们用政府的钱在所有的寺庙和宗教场所建立云厨房。让我们安装智能的现代厕所。通过这个计划，我们可以解决很多营养和保健方面的问题。这甚至比食品或天然气补贴更好。让我们现在就开始吧。

Kunal Jakhotia

Hi, It''s my humble suggestion, that the articles like this should take Data points from a valid sources.Rentals mentioned in this article is very misleading.Difference 1;The rentals on carpet/Built-up differ.Difference 2;The rental numbers mentioned are not the prevailing ones(not even the range)Hence, a legit source like any other IPCs in the region should be a source of data. No disrespect meant to anyone mentioned in the article or to the writer.Infact, I really appreciate your thought of shedding light on a huge booming economy which not many know about.

嗨，这是我的拙见，这样的文章应该从一个有效的来源获取数据点。这篇文章中提到的租金非常具有误导性。1.建筑物的租金不同；2:所提到的租金不是现在的金额了，所以要有正规的数据来源。我对文章中提到的任何人或作者并无不尊。事实上，我真的很欣赏你的想法，让人们了解一个巨大而繁荣的经济产业。

Alpha

nice article

不错的文章

Kishore Shivani

THIS VINDICATES MY STATEMENT THAT THE LOOMS IN BHIWANDI STOPPED WORKING 25 YEARS BACK THE EARLIER ARTCLE GIVING A FAKE FALSE MANUFACTURED NARRATIVE TRYING TO BLAME GST FOR THEIR STOPPAGE .

这证明了我的说法是正确的：比万迪的织布机在25年前就停止工作了，那篇文章编造了一个虚假的故事，试图将它们的停工归咎于商品服务税。

Topical Lovers

Absolutely right Bhivandi is nearby Mumbai''s touch as well as Nasik Rd. I have land in Bhivandi Gorsai approx 2.5 acres and other 15 members have 2.5 acars Means 20 to 25 acars land is available. I am interested to find any opportunities to visit in my spots location and always welcome to establish for warehouses.

完全正确，比凡迪就在孟买附近。我在比凡迪戈赛有大约2.5英亩的土地，其他15个家人拥有2.5英亩的土地，这意味着我们有20到25英亩的土地。我有兴趣找机会参观我的徒弟位置，建设仓库。

Rohit Shinde

everything is in Maharashtra. other states should learn.

所有的一切都在马哈拉施特拉邦。其他邦应该向它学习。

Baji Jedhe

7000 rs per month. amazon back at squeezing locals

每月7000卢比。亚马逊又开始压榨当地人了

Sunilkumar Tejwani

fully agree with Mr . Shetye. Bhiwandi was already a warehouse location for storage of goods for majority of merchants from Mumbai as well as other peripheral town due to additional burden of Octroi . After abolishing Octroi ( post GST regime ) Bhiwandi still had the attraction of storage of large scale at an affordable cost , compared to the whoo property cost in Mumbai .because of its strategic location , dedicated work force and transport facilities as well as affordable storage facilities ( large warehouses available on rental / lease or even ownership basis at a much cheaper rate ) has made Bhiwandi the best choice for logistics .

完全同意Mr. Shetye的说法。由于商品入市税的额外负担，比万迪已经是孟买和其他周边城镇大多数商人的货物仓库。取消货物入市税后，比万迪仍然有吸引力，有着大规模存储和合理可担的价格，比孟买被哄抬的房产价格要合理得多。因为其战略位置，有工作道德的劳动力和交通设施以及负担得起的储存设施(大仓库租赁/租赁甚至购买价格都更为便宜)使得比万迪成为物流行业的最佳选择。

Prashant Nayakanti

A good opportunity for fintech lenders to disburse micro loans to Bhiwandi residents

这是金融科技贷款机构向比万迪居民发放小额贷款的好机会。

Ravindra Shetye

The begng of Bhivandi as store house started initially because it was outside Octroi limit of Mumba. So the materials can be stored at Bhivandi and only the materials delivered in Mumbai will be required to pay Octroi.off course the other aspects like closeness to Mumbai port, Pune, Nashik and interior Maharashtra and Gujarat, availability of labour, transportation facilities helped.

比万迪最初是在孟巴商品入市税实施时开始作为仓库的。所以这些原材料可以储存在比万迪，只有在孟买交付的原材料才需要支付商品入市税。当然，其他因素如靠近孟买港口、浦那、纳希克、马哈拉施特拉邦和古吉拉特邦，劳动力的可用性，交通设施都有所帮助。

Utsav

These hubs generate employment for the people of Bhiwandi but at the cost many other jobs. These hubs are a financially viable option for the companies and they save some bucks sourcing the goods from here. Once they get a better deal elsewhere they''ll move without a thought.

这些中心为比万迪人民创造了就业机会，但却牺牲了许多其他就业机会。对于这些公司来说，这些集散地是一个经济上可行的选择，他们可以节省一些从这里采购货物的钱。一旦他们在别处得到更好的交易，他们就会毫不犹豫地搬离。

Rewarding India

there must be more hubs in the country

必须在全国范围内建设更多的中心。

Dilip

Bhiwandi is the right location for ecommerce giants.

比万迪是电商巨头的最佳选址。

Srinivas Kandregula

good think

很不错的思路。