Synopsis
Delhivery’s growth is surging, fueled by booming e-commerce, especially from D2C brands and specialized online retailers. Founder Sahil Barua highlights the increasing trend of businesses outsourcing logistics due to rising operational costs. The company is also benefiting from market consolidation and a significant uptick in SME shipments, positioning it for further expansion and improved profitability.
Third-party logistics company Delhivery has seen its fortunes improve on the back of rising ecommerce deliveries over the last several quarters. In an exclusive interview with ET, founder and chief executive Sahil Barua attributed the company’s growth to major ecommerce trends, including the limits of in-house logistics and an unprecedented cost environment.Also read:ETtech Q&A | Delhivery looking to expand high-growth businesses: CEO Sahil BaruaBarua stated that the ecommerce market has seen healthy growth across price segments over the past year. Among the key trends, direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands and vertical ecommerce players, focused on specific product categories have been contributing an increasing share of Delhivery‘s shipment volumes, Barua said.“We’re seeing healthy underlying volume growth across the industry, and it’s not just at the lower end. Mid- and premium-tier ecommerce has also been growing strongly… At the overall market level, vertical players appear to be taking share from horizontal marketplaces… But in segments such as fashion, D2C brands seem to be doing well, and we have high penetration in that space,” he said.Barua added that the rapid growth of SME shippers has also been an unexpected trend. The segment, comprising micro, small and medium enterprises, has grown on the back of offers such as zero minimum order requirements and international economy air parcel service. “We hadn’t realised how quickly that segment was growing. Earlier, many SMEs relied on local couriers and unorganised logistics providers. Now, with Delhivery Direct, we can see that business has been growing at over 50% annually for the past two years,” he said.Another factor, according to Barua, has been the shift from in-house to outsourced logistics by ecommerce companies. Barua expects the shift to gather pace on the back of rising fuel prices and labour costs. “Those are two of the three biggest cost heads in logistics. As costs rise, more efficient operators will have a greater advantage over less efficient ones,” he said.Barua said Delhivery’s acquisition of Ecom Express has led to market consolidation, with reduced competition in the third-party logistics sector contributing to higher shipment volumes for the company.The Gurugram-based company now plans to expand its high-growth businesses and improve margins to power its next phase of value creation. In May, Delhivery reported a 30% year-on-year increase in revenue to Rs 2,850 crore for Q4FY26, up from Rs 2,191.6 crore a year earlier, while quarterly EBITDA surged 80% to Rs 214.2 crore from Rs 119.1 crore. Net profit, however, was largely flat, slipping to Rs 72.4 crore from Rs 72.6 crore. Excluding Ecom integration costs and exceptional items, profit after tax stood at Rs 87 crore.
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