Top 10 Most Trusted and Efficient Warehousing Companies in India

Have you ever wondered how the new mobile phone ordered online got to you in a short time?

Or How Ice creams never melt on the way from factory to the nearest parlour?

Where food grains are stored before they reach your kitchen or what happens to cargo that comes into India from distant countries after crossing oceans?

These goods are kept in special warehouses that are spread across India. From these warehouses, companies send them onwards for distribution and sale.

Even farmers that grow grains, onion, tomato, banana and mango, among other stuff, use warehouses.

Therefore, India has lots of warehouses. These are operated by top warehousing and logistics companies of India.

Importance of Warehouses

Over 40 percent of food produced in India is wasted, says Food & Agriculture Office (FAO) of the United Nations.

This happens because India does not have sufficient warehouses where fresh produce from farms and orchards can be stored and processed.

India also has one of the largest landmass in the world. This makes carrying stuff from one part of the country to another a very long process.

In fact, things can get damaged on the way.

This is where warehouses come in. They help prevent losses of food and save goods against theft and damage.

Here are top warehousing companies who are doing this task.

Top 10 Warehousing Companies in India

1. Central Warehousing Corporation

Central Warehousing Corporation is an autonomous organization run by the Indian government. It was established in 1957.

CWC provides logistics support to India’s huge agricultural business as well as a wide range of clients from the public and private sectors.

CWC operates 432 Warehouses across the country. They have a combined storage capacity of 9.96 million tons.

Warehousing is provided for sophisticated industrial goods, military hardware, food grains, international cargo containers, airfreight, goods carried by Indian Railways, export cargo and Customs bonded warehouses, among others.

CWC also offers Clearing & Forwarding, Handling & Transportation, Procurement & Distribution, disinfestation, fumigation and other services required by the logistics industry in India.

The organization provides consultancy services and training for the construction of warehousing infrastructure to public and private sector companies in India.

Also Read: Top 10 Shipping Companies in India 

2. VRL Logistics Ltd

VRL Logistics finds mention in the prestigious Limca Book of Records as the company having the highest number of freighter vehicles in India.

Consequently, VRL Logistics also operates as one of the largest warehousing Companies in India.

The company owns warehouses at various locations as well as takes others from smaller operators on a franchise basis. This makes it the best warehousing companies in India.

VRL Logistics Ltd is among the top Third Party Logistics companies in India. It was established in Hubli, Karnataka in 1976.

Its warehousing services are used by large companies that want to safely transport goods within India or export outside the country.

It operates transhipment hubs in the country through its network of warehouses.

The company handles a variety of cargo, from agricultural produce to delicate machinery and other goods at its warehouses.

It operates through some 1,000 branches located across the country to provide seamless warehousing solutions and cold chain storage facilities for the Indian industry.

Also Read: Top 10 Most Efficient Packers and Movers in India

3. GATI-KWE

GATI-KWE is Joint Venture between Gati Logistics Ltd and Japan’s freight and warehousing major, Kintetsu World Express.

Gati-KWE provides customized, state-of-the-art warehousing services for all sections of the Indian industry.

The next time you get something you ordered online, it could be handled by GATI-KWE: they have a special warehousing and fulfilment centre for e-commerce business.

GATI-KWE ranks as topmost warehousing company of India for several reasons. It provides multi-level warehousing solutions.

These include inventory optimization, risk management and contingencies strategies, sales and operations planning, demand repository and Point Of Sale data adoption.

These services are useful for companies dealing in perishable agricultural produce, seafood, frozen goods, chemicals, medicines and electronics.

Customers of GATI-KWE warehousing can also avail value added services such as packaging, labelling and barcoding.

The company serves almost 99 percent of India’s districts and covers over 5,120 postal codes and nearly 15,500 special postal codes.

It has 61 warehouses and three e-fulfilment centers across India.

4. Transport Corporation of India

Transport Corporation of India (TCI) group is India’s leading integrated multimodal logistics and supply chain solutions provider.

The company has an impressive 12 million sq. feet. of warehousing space.

Additionally, the company’s warehousing facilities are backed by a strong network of multimodal transport and over 6,000 trained staff.

TCI was established in 1958. It began as a small enterprise that boasted to be a “One Man, One Truck, One Office” company.

Over the last 60 years, TCI has firmly established itself as a major logistics player in the Indian market that provides state-of-the-art warehousing solutions.

Warehousing solutions from TCI are utilized by the country’s agriculture sector as well as every other industry.

In recent years, TCI is also supporting the country’s booming e-commerce and infrastructure development sectors. It is a top warehousing company in India and one of the largest logistics providers too.

5. Kerala State Warehousing Corporation

Kerala State Warehousing Corporation was established in 1959.

The Kerala state government holds 50 percent stake in this company. Kerwacor, as it is known, operates from its corporate office in Cochin.

Kerwacor has 55 warehouses located at strategic places in Kerala.

The company provides warehousing services for agricultural produce, Ayurvedic plants and herbs, spices and fruits as well as myriad other stuff that is manufactured in the state.

The company was established by the Kerala government to prevent exploitation of farmers and other producers who would sell their produce and prevent it from perishing, to middlemen at throwaway rates.

In addition to warehousing, Kewarcor also arranges easy credit for farmers and provides them with state-of-the-art storage solutions, including cold chain or keeping produce refrigerated for longer periods.

Kewacor ensures all products stored at their warehouses against fire and theft, as service to the state’s agriculture industry.

Also Read: Top 25 Courier Companies in India

6. Central Railside Warehouse Co Ltd

Central Railside Warehouse Co Ltd is a warehousing company owned by the Indian government.

It was formed in 2002 in collaboration with Indian Railways. Its main objective is to assist Indian Railways in streamlining their freight operations.

Since inception, CRWC has been helping Indian Railways to bag more freight orders from large Indian companies.

The first freight terminal of CRWC is located in Bangalore. Other large warehouses have been integrated into the CRWC system to provide seamless movement of freight across the length and breadth of this country.

Currently, it is developing state-of-the-art warehouses across the country to provide storage facilities for agriculture, livestock, military hardware, frozen goods, petroleum products, cargo containers and other freight items.

These complexes are coming up near major railway terminals.

7. Maharashtra State Warehousing Corporation

Maharashtra State Warehousing Corporation was established in 1957.

MSWC is jointly owned by the state government of Maharashtra and Central Warehousing Corporation with each holding 50 percent stakes.

MSWC is one of the oldest state-run warehousing companies in the country. It began with three warehouses.

The company now operates some 195 warehousing centres across Maharashtra.

They provide essential warehousing services to the state’s industrial and agricultural sectors.

MSWC handles some 1.8 million Metric Tons of assorted cargo and freight every year.

As service to agricultural sector of the state, MSWC provides very economical warehousing solutions for farmers.

They can avail up to 50 percent discount on agricultural produce for storage at MSWC warehouses.

Additional discounts are given to farmers from the state’s Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other economically backward segments of the society.

Warehousing service provided by MSWC include scientific storage of food grains, fertilizers, industrial goods, cotton bales and cement.

It also operates Customs bonded warehouses and international freight stations at select locations.

A unique service offered by MSWC is that farmers, individuals and companies that store their products at MSWC warehouses can pledge their storage receipts as collateral to get bank loans.

8. Patel Warehouse

Patel Warehouse is a service that comes from Patel Roadways Ltd.

The brand is not to be confused with a smaller company that operates under the same name.

Patel Roadways is India’s first multimodal logistics operator and ranks among the top warehousing companies of India.

According to the website of Patel Warehouse, the company has over 100,000 sq. feet of warehousing space located across India.

In addition to warehousing services, customers can also avail of the extensive transportation and logistics network of the parent company.

Currently, Patel Warehouse provides warehousing solutions to over 6,000 companies located across India.

The distinct advantage that Patel Warehouse enjoys is their modern systems.

All their warehouses and logistics services as well as vehicles used IT-based solutions. This greatly reduces any risk to freight at Patel Warehouse facilities.

Additionally, Patel Warehouse customers can avail distribution, Clearing & Forwarding and other value added services.

9. IndoSpace

IndoSpace has whopping 30 million square feet of dry, wet, cold, fragile and other storage facilities across India that makes it the biggest and top warehousing company of India.

IndoSpace is a pioneer in India’s industrial and logistics parks. It caters to logistics and warehousing needs of leading players in automobiles, e-commerce, FMCG, 3PL and manufacturing sectors.

Its warehouses are spread across 28 logistics parks and industrial parks across the country. More are currently under development.

IndoSpace has a long-term agreement with global warehousing and logistics provider, GLP. This enables IndoSpace to provide technologically sophisticated warehousing and logistics solutions.

IndoSpace has won several accolades.

These include the ‘Best Developer of Industrial/Warehouse Real Estate in India’ in 2017 from Euromoney magazine for three consecutive years.

It has also won the “Star Warehousing Company of the Year” award for 2017 for the third time since 2015 at the 11^th Express Logistics & Supply Chain (ELSC) Conclave, as well as the CII Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence (SCALE) award for 2016.

10. Snowman

Ice-creams, frozen fruits and other stuff that needs to be kept chilled or frozen are brought to you from Snowman.

It ranks among the top 10 warehousing companies of India and offers the entire range of cold chain logistics required for storing and transporting frozen and chilled goods.

Snowman calls itself as India’s leading integrated temperature-controlled logistics service provider.

The company specializes in providing warehousing, distribution, and other value-add services across the country.

Snowman has state-of-the-art temperature- controlled warehousing facilities at prime locations in India. They also run cold chain warehouses in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.

This company has a whole range of cold chain logistical solutions which makes possible faster and seamless distribution of temperature controlled products like frozen foods.

Snowman provides cold storage warehouses coupled with distribution systems.

Special Mention:

11. Food Corporation of India

Central government-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) is also one of the giant warehousing companies.

It owns several warehouses across India where food grains that India needs to maintain food security are kept.

The company also hires out some of its warehouses to farmers. In places where it does not have warehouses, it leases them from private parties to operate under FCI banner.

FCI also provides warehousing and other solutions to the large agricultural sector of India. The company stores imported food grains. FCI’s food reserves help the country in keeping its food prices in control.

Wrap Up

Despite the presence of big players in the warehousing sector of India, the country continues to face a severe shortage of storage facilities.

This is leading to lots of waste of food grown in India and delays in industrial production as well as exports.

India has only about 1.5 billion square feet of warehousing facilities while the need is for much more.

Over US$7billion will be put into developing warehouses in India by the year 2022, say industry experts.

Consequently, we can see some more top warehousing companies emerge in India in the near future while those already in the field will grow larger.