Multimodal Logistics

Moving goods efficiently across India requires using every available mode — road, rail, sea, and air — in combinations that are optimised for cost, speed, reliability, and carbon footprint. For most of India's logistics history, these modes operated as parallel systems with poor integration. The completion of the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors, the expansion of coastal shipping, the development of multimodal logistics hubs under PM Gati Shakti, and the growing maturity of air cargo infrastructure have fundamentally changed what is operationally achievable. We bring deep experience in designing and optimising multimodal logistics networks for Indian and international businesses — understanding not just the theoretical mode economics but the operational reality of how freight actually moves across India's infrastructure at scale.

• Multimodal network design — designing integrated road-rail-sea-air networks that optimise total cost of logistics rather than individual mode cost, incorporating DFC connectivity, coastal shipping potential, and last-mile constraints
• Modal shift analysis — building the financial and operational case for shifting freight between modes, with realistic assumptions about transit time, reliability, packaging requirements, and transition costs
• Hub and corridor strategy — identifying the optimal hub locations, transshipment points, and freight corridor alignments for a specific cargo type, origin-destination profile, and service requirement
• Multimodal operator advisory — advising MTO-registered operators and logistics companies on service design, pricing, and commercial positioning in India's emerging multimodal market
• Coastal and inland waterway integration — evaluating the commercial case for coastal shipping and IWT as components of domestic logistics networks, particularly for bulk commodities and containerised cargo on eligible corridors

EXIM & Trade

India's merchandise exports exceeded $500 billion in recent fiscal years, and the government's ambition is to reach $2 trillion by 2030. The supply chain behind this ambition — the freight forwarders, customs brokers, shipping lines, NVOCCs, and inland transport operators who physically move EXIM cargo — operates within a regulatory and commercial environment that is simultaneously being modernised and made more demanding. ICEGATE digitalisation, AEO programme expansion, the GST e-invoicing mandate, and the passage of five new maritime acts in 2025 have all changed the compliance landscape for EXIM businesses in the past two years. We have worked across every segment of the Indian EXIM supply chain — and we understand the specific operational, regulatory, and commercial challenges that businesses encounter when they are moving goods across India's borders at scale.

• EXIM supply chain design — end-to-end design of import and export supply chains, from origin or factory gate through customs clearance, port or airport handling, and inland transport to the final destination
• Customs and trade compliance — CBIC and ICEGATE compliance, IEC management, DGFT licence advisory, AEO certification support, duty structure optimisation, and trade documentation management
• Freight management — carrier selection, rate benchmarking, contract negotiation with shipping lines and airlines, and the freight market intelligence that informs buying decisions rather than accepting published tariffs
• Cross-border supply chain optimisation — reviewing the complete import or export chain to identify cost, time, and compliance improvement opportunities that are not visible when each segment is managed independently
• Trade finance integration — advising on the trade finance instruments — LCs, bank guarantees, export credit — that make EXIM supply chains commercially viable at the volumes and on the payment terms that international trade requires

Infrastructure & Terminals

Logistics infrastructure is the longest-horizon investment in the sector — and the least forgiving of errors made at the evaluation stage. A terminal concession with poorly negotiated throughput guarantees and an ICD positioned in the wrong freight corridor will underperform regardless of how well-managed the operation is. We bring the combination of freight market intelligence and transaction experience that infrastructure investment in the logistics sector requires — understanding not just the financial model but the operational variables that determine whether the model's assumptions are achievable. Our infrastructure expertise spans terminals, inland container depots, container freight stations, cold chain facilities, and logistics parks across India's major port and freight corridor network.

• Terminal feasibility and concession advisory — cargo demand forecasting, competitive positioning, concession term negotiation, PPP bid support, and project financing for port terminal investments
• ICD and CFS investment advisory — site selection, DFC connectivity assessment, CBIC licensing, demand validation, and the operational design that determines whether an inland freight facility is commercially competitive in the DFC era
• Logistics park advisory — demand validation, site selection, specification design, tenant identification and pre-leasing, and investment structuring for Grade-A logistics park development and acquisition
• Infrastructure transaction advisory — buy-side and sell-side advisory for terminal and logistics infrastructure transactions, with sector-specific commercial and operational due diligence that a generalist M&A advisor cannot replicate
• Green infrastructure advisory — Harit Sagar compliance planning, ESG positioning for institutional investors, and the sustainability capital expenditure appraisal that modern infrastructure investors require

M&A and Due Diligence

The value of a logistics business is embedded in variables that standard financial analysis does not reach — the transferability of customer relationships, the licence dependencies that carry change-of-control risk, the network density that creates switching costs for clients, the management depth that allows the business to operate without its founders. We conduct M&A advisory and due diligence for logistics sector transactions with the specific goal of making these variables visible — to buyers who want to understand what they are actually acquiring, to sellers who want to communicate the genuine value of what they have built, and to investors who need to underwrite assumptions that a financial model cannot self-validate.

• Buy-side M&A advisory — strategy, target identification, commercial and operational assessment, valuation, negotiation support, and post-merger integration planning for acquisitions in the logistics sector
• Sell-side M&A advisory — business preparation, equity story development, buyer identification, process management, and term negotiation for logistics business owners and PE sponsors preparing for exit
• Commercial due diligence — independent validation of market position, revenue quality, growth assumptions, and competitive sustainability for PE and strategic investors evaluating logistics acquisitions
• Operational due diligence — assessment of network strength, asset condition, technology infrastructure, workforce capability, and management depth beyond the founding team
• Logistics SaaS and technology diligence — product-market fit, customer integration depth, switching cost assessment, churn analysis, and technology defensibility for investments in logistics technology platforms

Digital & transformation

Digital transformation in logistics is one of the most overpromised and underdelivered areas of investment in the sector. The gap between what a technology vendor demonstrates and what a logistics operator actually achieves after implementation is consistently wide — because technology selection decisions are made without sufficient understanding of how the operational context will shape adoption, integration, and sustained use. Indian logistics SaaS companies raised over $164 million in the first eleven months of 2025 alone, reflecting genuine investor conviction in the sector's digital potential. But the businesses that capture value from technology investment are those that chose the right tools for their specific operational reality, implemented them with change management discipline, and measured outcomes against the operational problems they were solving — not the features demonstrated in a product tour. We advise on logistics technology strategy and implementation with the operational depth to distinguish tools that will create genuine capability from those that will create complexity.

• Technology strategy and selection — defining the technology requirements for a logistics business based on operational gaps rather than market positioning; evaluating TMS, WMS, control tower, and freight marketplace platforms against those requirements; and managing vendor selection with commercial discipline
• Logistics SaaS advisory — for technology companies building products for the shipping and logistics sector, advising on product-market fit, customer acquisition strategy, pricing model design, and the commercial positioning that differentiates a product in a crowded market
• Digital transformation programme management — designing and overseeing the implementation of technology programmes in logistics businesses, including the change management, training, and process redesign that determine whether technology creates operational value or sits alongside existing processes
• Data and visibility strategy — advising logistics businesses on building the data infrastructure and real-time visibility capability that reduces operational uncertainty, improves customer service, and creates the decision-support layer that experienced operations teams need to manage at scale
• Technology due diligence for investors — assessing the technology stack, data architecture, engineering team quality, and product defensibility of logistics SaaS businesses being evaluated for PE or strategic investment

Governance

Good governance is not a compliance exercise — it is the structural foundation that allows a logistics business to make consistent, well-informed decisions and remain accountable for the outcomes. We bring a governance lens to every engagement: ensuring that the structures, reporting lines, board composition, and decision rights of the businesses we advise are designed to support sustainable performance rather than the interests of any single party. In a sector where ownership transitions, joint ventures, and PE investment frequently create governance complexity, this lens is not optional — it is the difference between a business that can be managed through transition and one that becomes ungovernable under commercial pressure.

Profitability focus

Revenue growth in logistics without profitability improvement is not a success — it is a deferral of the reckoning. Indian logistics businesses have historically grown topline while accepting thin or negative margins on new customer wins, believing that scale will eventually create profitability. It frequently does not, because the cost structure that supports unprofitable volume growth becomes embedded before the discipline to price correctly is established. We maintain a consistent focus on profitability — not as a constraint on growth ambition but as the measure that distinguishes sustainable growth from volume that destroys value. Every commercial recommendation we make is tested against its margin impact, not just its revenue contribution.

Systems thinking

Logistics businesses are systems — networks of interdependent assets, relationships, regulatory obligations, and operational processes where a change in one element creates consequences elsewhere that are not immediately visible. A decision to win a new customer at aggressive pricing affects warehouse utilisation, driver scheduling, and vehicle maintenance cycles in ways that a P&L-level analysis does not capture. A modal shift from road to rail changes not just freight cost but packaging specifications, lead time variability, and the commercial terms that customers expect. We approach every engagement with the discipline to trace these interdependencies — because the recommendations that miss them create problems that surface six months after the engagement closes.