MarketOver the years the task of delivering urgentletters has evolved into a highly skilled industryand the business itself has metamorphosed frombeing a courier service to a logistics provider.

On the faceof it, however,deliveringgoods andservices just in time is nobig deal. Inactuality, it entails a complex, integratedprocedure which requires extensive and efficientdetailing, stream mapping, networking and thecritical last mile delivery which has been theAchilles heel for many companies.

Starting more than aquarter century ago, BlueDart has manifested into awell-oiled, finely tunedmilitary-like machine.Thanksto this effort and theconfidence businesses reposein it the logistics industry in India, led by BlueDart, has grown to employing an impressive onemillion plus people.

The mushrooming of businesses and the gainsIndia is making provide the logistics industrywith a plethora of opportunities and anenvironment conducive for the sustainedaugmentation of its resources.

Today, the logistics sector is estimated atbetween 12% and 13% of GDP a figure higherthan in many developed economies (Source:www.researchandmarkets.com). Fuelled by theseopportunities the business is attractinginvestments in growing measure. Accepting itscriticality, the government, too, has allowed100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in this industry.

Blue Dart itself has grown into anunchallenged leader in the domestic air expressmarket. Of the share garnered by the organisedsector, Blue Dart commands an impressive40.10% (Source: A T Kearney TMS Study andinternal estimates).

This market dominance didn't happen on itsown. Blue Dart has made huge investments inbuilding an infrastructure that is unparalleled in the entire South Asia region.The figures make impressive reading: over 25,000 locations,

51 domestic warehouses, four B757and three B737 freighter

aircraft offering arevenue payload of

370 tonneseach night, afleet of over5400 vehicles,more than1150businessassociates,over 380combinedONERETAILstores with

DHL, over 1 millionsquare feet ofwarehousingspace and

over 7100committed andcustomer-focused BlueDarters, driven

by a singular passion of delivering serviceexcellence and value.

AchievementsPutting together this mammoth organisationrequired Blue Dart to endure formidablechallenges and take bold steps to protect itsgains. When others in the domain were stilltrying to grasp the nature of the beast, BlueDart had already tamed it.The brand created apalpable differential for itself by arrogating aniche and a hard-to-emulate segment insupply chain management that demanded criticaldeliveries, low inventories and reliable andtimely distribution.

With the induction of two B737 freighters in 1996, Blue Dart became the first expresscompany to launch dedicated cargo operations.Over the years and in sync with customerdemands, it augmented capacity and, today,continues to be the largest and most successfulplayer with a dedicated fleet of Boeing freighter aircraft.

Blue Dart's technology solutions have playeda key role in its premium positioning and inbringing global standards to the doorstep of Indian customers. Such has been theramifications of these offerings that more than79% of Blue Dart's regular customers use itactively. Home grown innovations like theCOSMAT II (the tracking and ERP system),TrackDart (monitoring shipment status),MailDart (tracking shipments over e-mail),InternetDart (memory bank for shipments),PackTrack (tracking software for medium and large customers), ShopTrack (tracking andCRM tool for e-business portals), ImageDart(online download of proof of deliverychallans/documents, to speed up the customer'sbill process, waybill issuance capability, customerdirectory, data upload and download of trackinginformation), among others have enabled theweaving of thoughtful information managementto the logistics business.

The efforts made by Blue Dart have gained

wide recognition.The company benchmarkedto international standards has won severalbrand leadership awards. Blue Dart is enshrinedin the Forbes under Top 200 Companies forBest-under-Billion Companies in the Asia-Pacific

region.The company was rated as One of India's BestCompanies to Work for in 2010in a study conducted by TheEconomic Times and GreatPlaces to Work Institute, India.

Amongst a host of several other awards, thecompany won the 22nd Jamnalal Bajaj Councilfor Fair Business Practices (CFBP) award 2010in the Medium Service Enterprise category.

History In November 1983, three young entrepreneurs,Clyde Cooper,Tushar Jani and Kushroo Dubashpooled in Rs. 30,000 (now about US$ 670) tokick-start an idea of delivering small packagesand samples to support India's burgeoningexports. On that date, in a space of 200 squarefeet under a staircase, Blue Dart was born. Grit,determination and hard work would propel thefledgling from sorting and delivering a fewdozen packages outside Mumbai airport on thatfirst night, to handling over 200,000 shipmentseach day. In a study conducted by DSRS in2008, Blue Dart was rated as the strongestexpress brand in India with the highest top-of-mind recall.

To offer international air package expressservices to its clients Blue Dart, in its early days,forged ties with Gelco Express International, UK.In 1993, the company shifted its focus frominternational to domestic services and went on to become the first Indian express companyto conceptualise domestic on-board courierswith a guaranteed 10:30 am delivery to major metros.

In the following year, Blue Dart went publicwith an IPO of 2.55 million shares. In the sameyear, Blue Dart launched its multi-modal,premium package delivery service DartApex(Air Package Express) and COSMATII, anadvanced tracking and ERP system thatredefined the industry. In that year, too, BlueDart Aviation, then a 100% subsidiary of BlueDart Express, was incorporated and became thefirst private company to receive governmentapproval for the operation of cargo aircraft inthe country.

The next five years were a period of intensegrowth for Blue Dart.The company created itsproprietary Space Management Allocation

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Reservations andTracking (SMART)system, gained the ISO:9001 certification,acquired two Boeingfreighter aircraft,launched domesticcharter operations,signed interlineagreements withinternational airlines fordistribution of bondedcargo within BlueDart's network,developed India's firstLoad and Trim softwarefor its aircraft, reducinghandling time by 80%and inaugurated itsstate-of-the-artadministrative,technology andoperations Superhuband Headquarters, theBlue Dart Centre, inMumbai.

Strengthened by the effect of thesedevelopments Blue Dart added a third Boeingto its fleet in2001. A year later it entered into asales alliance with global leader DHL ExpressWorldwide.Today, DHL owns 81.03% stake inthe company.The fourth aircraft joined the fleetin 2004 and Blue Dart became the first privateoperator in India to receive approval from theDirector General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) forundertaking heavy maintenance D-checks on its aircraft.

Two B757 freighters the first in the Indianskies joined the Blue Dart fleet in 2006. In aneffort to fortify its unique capability of offeringthe entire gamut of end-to-end distributionsolutions, Blue Dart launched its ground expressservice Dart Surfaceline in September 2007and inducted the third B757 freighter.

2008 was special. It marked Blue Dart's silverjubilee. In celebration Blue Dart announcedtwenty-five new defining products and services.

Product Blue Dart is one of the most complete logisticscompanies in India. It offers its clients servicesthat range from express air and integratedtransportation to distribution and logisticsservices. As part of the DHL Group, it is able toaccess the international delivery platform of theworld's premier logistics company and offer theentire spectrum of distribution services includingsupply chain solutions and customs clearance.

The express services offer Domestic Priority the fastest, most reliable door-to-door servicefor non-commercialdomestic documentsand small packagesunder 32 kilos. DartApex a door-to-door, time-definite,supply chain andlogistics distributionservice forcommercial shipmentsthat requireregulatory clearance.Dart Surfaceline isBlue Dart's premiumground expressservice providingeconomical, door-to-door grounddistribution solutions.Smart Box, availableon air and groundexpress modes, is theconvenient, door-to-door service for

cargo in two sizes 10 kilos and 25 kilos.Air Freight services include domestic, early

morning airport-to-airport deliveries to theseven metros Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata,Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad,serviced by Blue Dart aircraft. Interline servicesinclude transhipment of international loadsbetween major metros, the movement ofshipments classified as dangerous goods and thespecialised movement of aircraft engines acrossthe country. Charters offer palletised capacityfor the carriage of urgent and large volumes tomajor airports in the country and the region.

Blue Dart has also introduced severalcustomised products such as Rakhi Express andUniversity Express for domestic addresses whileImport Express offers a door-to-door facility forimporting shipments from over 200 countries.

Recent DevelopmentsIn its most recent additions, Blue Dart hasintroduced two robust customer-centricprogrammes First Choice and Net PromoterApproach (NPA). First Choice follows a DMAIC(Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control)process which helps systematically resolve anenduring problem, while NPA aims at gaugingcustomer loyalty and delivers a Net PromoterScore which is an international benchmark forcustomer advocacy.

Blue Dart has recently added TemperatureControlled Logistics, developed especially forthe pharmaceutical sector. It has a range ofsuperior temperature-controlled solutions tomeet customer's specific needs.These solutions

are backed by extensiveand reliable expressdistribution, dry icesupplies including freetop-up replenishments,real-time shipment statusinformation, regulatoryclearance, validationservices and projectmanagement.

For time-criticalbusiness needs,customers can now availof a door-to-door, time-definite delivery.Theseservices are currentlyavailable in selected citiesand are backed by amoney-back guarantee.The company alsoaggressively launched aslew of new productsand services like theDomestic Express Pallet

on air- andground- mode,Dart SurfaceLinePlus, and anadvancedtechnology calledOn-the-Move(OTM), which hasstrengthenedshipment visibility.

The continuousimprovement ofservice is, ofcourse, a priority.But through it,Blue Dart hasn'tlost sight of its socialresponsibilities. Itseffort Go Teach empowerschildren andrevolves aroundproviding youngpeople from

marginalised societies to acquire Englishspeaking skills, computer literacy, life skills andcustomer-orientation. In the last two years thisinitiative has transformed the lives of 313people. For this fine effort, Blue Dart won theBSE 6th Social & Corporate Governance Award.Blue Dart has also strong interventions in areasof go-green and go-help.

PromotionIn an overcrowded, cluttered world, brand Blue Dart has exploited every opportunity to stand out.The core focus has been onstrengthening customer relationships and onmaking more effective use of its vehicles asmobile touch points.

In the past, Blue Dart, coinciding with thelaunch of its ground express service DartSurfaceLine released a television commercialtitled 'Delivering more than just Packages.' Thecommercial played back the emotions of trust,hope, dreams, aspirations and success that oftenlie in the consignments that Blue Dart carries.Blue Dart's trust emanates from the fact that itnever allows itself to forget this.

More recently, the brand strengthened itsrecall through a print campaign that arrogatedfor itself the very concept of express logistics: ifit's express logistics in India, then the companymust be Blue Dart.

Brand Values Blue Dart has always made a conscious effortto create a bond with its customers. Perhaps,because of this, the brand has, today, becomesynonymous with value, quality, speed, efficiency,responsiveness and service excellence.

www.bluedart.com

25BUSINESS SUPERBRANDS

Blue Dart still has employees who joined it onDay One

'Pride of working for Blue Dart' is rated highesteach year in the company's EmployeeSatisfaction Survey

Blue Dart offers money-back guarantee on itstime-definite services

Blue Dart handles 80 million shipments in ayear that's five consignments every twoseconds

Blue Edge Empowering Lives is an award-winning CSR initiative

Things you didnt know aboutBlue Dart

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