Pitney Bowes Inc., a global shipping and mailing company that provides technology, logistics, and financial services, released the new Parcel Shipping Index, featuring 2022 data from 13 major countries around the world. Coming off two-years of pandemic-fuelled growth, India’s parcel volumes increased to 18% in 2022 from 8% in 2021. India is leading the pack with the highest growth in parcel volumes, surpassing all other countries measured in the Index, including the US, UK, China, Germany, Japan, Italy, Australia, Brazil, Sweden, Norway, France, and Canada. This remarkable achievement is a testament to India’s booming ecommerce industry and its focus on embracing digital transformation. In 2022, India shipped, received, and returned 3.2 billion parcels, surpassing the expectations of pre-pandemic forecasts. This staggering figure represents a substantial increase from the 8% growth witnessed in 2021, illustrating the accelerated momentum of ecommerce activities. With an average of 8.8 million parcels shipped each day, amounting to 102 parcels per second, India demonstrates its position as a thriving market for both domestic and international parcel shipping. The per capita parcel volume in India experienced a substantial surge, from a single-digit 7% increase in 2021 to an impressive 16% growth 2022. This surge translated to an average of 10 parcels shipped per household in 2022, reflecting the growing reliance on ecommerce for the daily needs of Indian families.
“After a sharp decline in parcel volume at -21% in 2020 and marginal growth of 8% in 2021, it’s fitting to see India’s recovery with the highest surge in global parcel volume at 18%, indicating a future brimming with opportunities for India’s ecommerce ecosystem,” said Pankaj Sachdeva, Managing Director, India Innovation, Pitney Bowes. “The substantial increase in India’s per capita parcel volume further demonstrates the growing reliance on ecommerce for the daily needs of Indian families”. The Index further revealed that the global parcel volumes increased by 1% in 2022, impacted largely due to the lockdowns in China. China parcels grew at the slowest rate in Index history, hitting 111 billion parcels in 2022, marking only a 2% growth due to lockdowns and COVID outbreaks. China’s parcel volume had grown at a CAGR of 23% CAGR ’17- ‘22. Pre-pandemic China parcel volume CAGR ‘18-22 forecast was 25% and actual CAGR ‘18-22 was 22%.
