Founded in April 2015, Fortigo Network (4TiGO) – The Truck Network is a transacting platform for the road transportation ecosystem and consists of transporters that need trucks and fleet owners who own trucks. Having received its first funding in September 2015, 4TiGO currently has on its network around 500 transporters & fleet owners who own over 8,000 trucks and have corresponding demand of close to 3,000 trucks per day.
With focus on all standard intercity, long-distance M&HCV requirements, 4TiGO has reached most parts of the country, covering all major metro transport hubs and most State-capital transport hubs barring the North-East and Kashmir.
Mr. Anjani Mandal, CEO & Co-Founder, 4TiGO, shares his company’s growth plans, expectations from GST and more.
Excerpts:
FY17 performance
2016 was a good year for us. We launched the platform for private usage in June 2016. The network version was launched in January, this year. As on March of 2017, we had over 100 loads per day and more than 2500 trucks registered on the platform.
Plans and outlook for FY18
The first two months of FY18 have been extremely busy for us. We recently announced our Series A funding by Nandan Nilekani and Accel Partners. Our immediate plan is to enter and mark our presence in all the important transport hubs of the country including Guwahati, Jaipur, Raipur, Nagpur, Lucknow and Kanpur. Besides this we will also look at starting our operations at Bihar and Jharkhand over the next nine months. With this push, we expect to achieve our next milestone of covering all the hubs planned for till 2018.
GST impact on logistics sector
GST is a great step to organize an industry that comprises largely of unorganized players. It provides a platform for growing organisations to join the mainstream economy and contribute to its rapid growth. With multiple players adopting technology and joining the GST Network, companies that utilise this opportunity will play a key role in giving a boost to the road transport sector.
The combination of (a) the rules on e-way bill, (b) the continuance of road transportation services on a reverse charge to be paid by the service recipient, and (c) the effective road transportation GST rate being at 5%, will ensure that every participant of the highly fragmented transport sector feels motivated to make a transition to the organized sector.
Company’s GST-readiness
We are GST ready and will be providing the required facilities and technology for all users of our platform to register too. Through this, they can accept loads according to GST norms, get e-way bills and file returns as required.
Technology adoption
Our network uses over a dozen streams of technology to provide a scalable cloud-based platform, with mobile and web-based user interfaces, telematics for tracking, digital payment system integration with banking system as well as technology and data-exchange integration with partners.
We are committed to providing requisite technology, automation & data intelligence to all our network users for maximising their efficiency, business growth and profits.
Tackling driver shortage
We shall be introducing a driver program later this year to address the shortfall for the users of our platform.
Factors that would drive logistics sector growth
Firstly, GST and Government focus on electronic payments gives the hope of organising the logistics sector and this is a key factor. Secondly, mobile data communication & computing technology that helps all transport players will add to the efficiency of the industry. Finally, the capturing, organizing transport data & data analytics will help make the most of the resources available are the factors that will drive the industry growth & profitability.