The logistics parks developer TVS Industrial & Logistics Parks (TVS ILP) announced that it intends to expand its portfolio from 10 million square feet (sq ft) across 19 facilities in 11 Indian cities to 20 million sq ft in 41 cities by 2027 with $75-85 million annual spending. The warehousing space provider intends to achieve this by developing a warehousing facility close to the consumption and demand centre in every 400 kilometres of the length and breadth of the country, as briefed by TVS ILP’s chief operating officer Manikandan Ramachandran.
Sitting in the TVS ILP Hosur Park II Phase 1 space leased out to the Indian electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ather Energy, he said, “Over the next few years, the annual spend would be approximately $75-85 mn per year and we intend to be a 20 million sq ft platform with contracted revenue of $750 mn. The management is evaluating various options for future growth capital. TVS ILP has seen a 30 percent growth year-on-year consistently.”
TVS ILP has a wide customer portfolio with manufacturing occupying 38 percent of its business, auto & auto ancillary 27 percent, e-commerce 22 percent, Third Party Logistics (3PL) six percent and Fast Moving Consumer Goods/Durables (FMCG/D) 5 percent. Meanwhile, Ramachandran emphasised that their focus will be on warehousing and storage rather than manufacturing going forward.
Back to Ather and Hosur Park II Phase 1, which also hosts TVS Supply Chain Solutions (TVS SCS) and Flipkart. The Bengaluru-based EV startup occupies a combined space of 6 lakh sq ft across TVS ILP’s Hosur Park II Phase 1 and 2, leased for 15 years. Its 1.2 lakh sq ft in Phase 1 is used for the lithium-ion battery assembly & storage and after-sales operations, the 4.8 lakh sq ft in Phase 2 has two assembly lines of its finished model of two-wheelers. Ather decided to shift from its 20,000 sq ft facility in Whitefield, Bengaluru to TVS ILP’s Hosur Park II Phase 1 space of 1.2 lakh sq ft in 2019 after three months of deliberations with TVS ILP on the benefits of Hosur and finally occupied it in August 2020 after a project duration of just 114 days since starting construction in April 2020. “However,” Ramachandran said, “Ather’s operational and storage requirements kept increasing and it demanded more space adjacent to Phase 1. And that resulted in TVS ILP’s Hosur Park II Phase 2 with 4.8 lakh sq ft space.” TVS ILP acquired the land close to Phase 1 in 2021 which came with a lot of terrain challenges as well as design alterations due to space restrictions. The facility was handed over to Ather in July 2022 and it now enables Ather to produce one EV two-wheeler every 40 seconds during operational hours. “The facility was built and provided in a record time of 108 days because of our operational capabilities and thus Ather has been able to meet its vehicle delivery target of December 2022,” said Ramachandran. With storage space for 2,000 finished EVs, TVS ILP is now gearing up to double this capacity with a new level-up.
