News / India 'a critical growth market' for FedEx as it expands air express network

© Richair Dreamstime.com.

FedEx Express is putting itself on a stronger footing to tap into India’s booming trade prospects from manufacturing developments, as competition among the integrators heats up.

FedEx has opened a new flight out of Bangalore Airport in South India, connecting directly to Guangzhou Airport, in China’s southern province, said to be the country’s third-busiest air cargo hub, having handling some 2m tonnes last year.

On the return leg, the freighter connection stops at Liege, Belgium and Dubai, thus “optimising import cargo loads for India”.

FedEx India sources told The Loadstar: “At Liege, it connects several other routings, spanning the Atlantic Ocean and then proceeding to the US.”

It claimed the expansion would boost South India’s access to “critical imports from the Asia-Pacific region and aid exporters betting on the Europe/US markets”.

Richard Smith, COO (international) and CEO (airline), added: “India is one of the most exciting economic growth stories in the world today, and as such represents a critical growth market for FedEx.”

And Kami Viswanathan, FedEx president for the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and Africa, noted: “South India is home to some of the country’s leading manufacturers in electronics, automotive and healthcare.”

With this addition, FedEx offers 22 weekly connections in and out of Bangalore, which is India’s top perishable cargo handler.

FedEx has, seemingly, a two-pronged strategy behind the new routing: targeting growing lithium-ion batteries and components flowing into India for new factories in the automotive and electronics sectors; and serving Indian exporters dealing in healthcare, engineering, automotive and e-commerce verticals.

“With continuous investments in technology and infrastructure, FedEx is committed to supporting India’s aspirations to become a global manufacturing and trade powerhouse,” it said.

Buoyed by the healthy economic indicators, FedEx has concentrated on the Indian market in a bigger way in recent years. , rolling out an automated e-commerce service, FedEx Ship Manager to enhance its services for Indian e-tailers and small merchants and a priority service offering guaranteed faster transits to the US and Europe.

Meanwhile, home-grown conglomerates are also deepening their hi-tech industry interests. For example, Tata, which owns Air India, last week reportedly snapped-up a 60% stake in Taiwan shipper Pegatron’s iPhone production plant in Tamil Nadu, South India, capable of producing some 5m units annually.

That comes just months after Tata took over Wistron’s Indian manufacturing operations for iPhones, another Taiwanese assembler and supplier for Apple.  And Tata is primed to begin more iPhone production out of another plant in Tamil Nadu shortly, after an investment of some $720m.