India’s logistics sector is being reshaped by smarter multimodal integration, real-time data visibility, and digital intelligence. Together, interoperable platforms and preventive strategies are driving faster, leaner, and more resilient supply chains
In BPC, prevention still beats reverse logistics, every time
As India’s logistics landscape shifts under the weight of rising costs, tighter delivery windows, and sustainability pressures, Ashok Kumar, Managing Director, Global Vision, reflects on 2025 as a year defined by quiet but decisive reinvention. “Multimodal logistics evolved through smarter, more connected platforms,” he explains, emphasising how the unification of road, rail, sea, and air systems reshaped daily operations. AI and automation brought sharper scheduling, while companies leaned toward rail and electric fleets to manage fuel costs and emissions. “Real-time visibility tools strengthened coordination and reduced handling time,” he notes, a set of changes that, together, pushed multimodal operations toward faster, leaner, and greener outcomes.
Bridging the modal divide
For Kumar, the success of multimodal logistics rests on the efficiency of the handover. “Synchronised scheduling, interoperable IT systems, and shared data are the real enablers of smooth transitions,” he says. Sensors and IoT devices have improved the accuracy and speed of modal shifts, but not without persistent challenges. Integration gaps still show up where infrastructure lags, where digital systems fail to communicate, or where documentation standards vary from region to region. “Inconsistent regulations and limited multimodal hubs continue to add friction,” he observes, underscoring that the journey toward truly seamless multimodal integration remains unfinished.
The power of transparent data
Data, Kumar stresses, has become the connective tissue binding multimodal networks together. “Real-time data sharing gives every partner clarity on shipment status,” he says, driving a new era of end-to-end visibility. Integrated platforms now coordinate schedules, preempt delays, and optimise transfers between modes. Shared tracking information enables quicker responses to disruptions and supports stronger demand forecasting and capacity planning. “Transparent data exchange is strengthening reliability, coordination, and decision-making across the supply chain,” he adds, marking a significant cultural and operational shift.
Rethinking routes through digital intelligence
The industry’s newfound digital maturity is also reshaping route planning and asset utilisation. Kumar describes how platforms now consolidate multimodal data, from road to rail to sea to air, enabling planners to compare options in seconds. “Digital twins let us simulate multimodal routes before committing resources,” he explains, a capability that reduces bottlenecks and enhances utilisation. IoT-enabled updates on container location and condition reduce idle time, while electronic documentation accelerates intermodal transfers. These innovations, he says, are “streamlining planning and creating smoother, more predictable multimodal flows.”
Defining agility for 2026
Looking ahead, Kumar envisions a multimodal ecosystem defined by real-time coordination and deep interoperability. “A truly agile network will depend on seamless digital connectivity between every mode,” he emphasises. Interoperable platforms, shared data standards, and standardised documentation will reduce friction across borders and carriers. Flexible routing, powered by live visibility tools, will help logistics networks adapt instantly to disruptions. “This is how we build operations that are faster, more resilient, and highly coordinated,” he says, a blueprint for the next chapter of India’s multimodal evolution.
Interoperable platforms will define 2026 logistics agility
Consumer logistics reinvented
As the logistics landscape becomes more intelligent and responsive, reverse logistics remains one of the most stubborn cost centres — especially in beauty and personal care. Avinash Dhagat, CSCO Honasa Consumer, cuts through the noise with clarity: returns in this category “aren’t driven by try-and-return behaviour… they’re driven by avoidable failures.” In his view, the real transformation begins long before a parcel leaves the warehouse.
He describes a quiet but powerful shift: “Better dispatch discipline, photo capture at pick–pack, tamper-proof packaging, and lane-wise QC, removes a major chunk of preventable returns.” Add to this sharper front-end accuracy through improved images, clearer variant cues, and realistic delivery promises, and the system stops waste before it starts. The final piece is hyperlocal: city-level grading hubs where products can be refurbished, repacked, or liquidated without travelling back to a national DC. “In BPC,” he says, “prevention still beats reverse logistics; every time.”
When demand moves in micro-bursts
Urban demand today behaves less like a wave and more like a series of unpredictable spikes. Dhagat notes that retailers are using geospatial intelligence to keep pace with this shifting reality. “Demand doesn’t move uniformly; it clusters sharply,” he explains.
By layering sell-out behaviour, catchment patterns, and traffic constraints, retailers can replenish with surgical precision. Quick commerce platforms exemplify this, rebalancing between dark stores every few hours to respond to pin-code-level volatility. Across modern retail, he observes a common thread: “shorter forecasting cycles, more intra-city transfers, and smaller forward stocks placed exactly where they move.” In beauty and personal care, even micro-market nuances influence strategy, and geospatial thinking “makes those differences visible and actionable.”
Automation, but only where it fits
Automation continues to grow, yet the industry remains cautious. Dhagat articulates this hesitation candidly: retailers avoid solutions that “lock you in” with proprietary hardware or rigid layouts, especially when store formats evolve so quickly.
Investments continue where automation delivers consistent value, checkout processes, basic inventory counts, and predictable backroom workflows. But anything requiring perfect conditions or long payback periods stays under scrutiny. For now, he believes, automation will “handle the routine, and people will handle the variability,” until interoperability improves and ROI tightens.
Packaging that can survive the real world
With retail giants raising the bar on logistics performance, suppliers are being pushed to think beyond aesthetics. Dhagat observes a clear shift: packaging must endure faster handling, denser stacking, and far more rigorous movement cycles.
Suppliers are responding with stronger master cartons, resilient barcodes and QRs, and formats designed to reduce leakage and breakage. The direction, he says, is unmistakable: “Design packaging to run smoothly through high-velocity logistics environments.” Those who adapt early will enjoy faster movement, fewer disputes, and tighter integration with retailer networks.
