Reliance buys stake in Deccan 360 – Air Cargos & Logistics pick up steam

After selling his budget flight services – Deccan Airlines to Vijay Mallya owned United Breweries Group (which operated Kingfisher Airlines), aviation entrepreneur Captain G R Gopinath started his another venture on Air Cargos and Logistics – Deccan 360. Air Cargo Services in India is very much lagging when compared to other parts of the world. Deccan 360 is rightly placed to tap the market.

Gopinath ventured into Air Cargo services with $25 million and Deccan 360 has currently deployed 8 freights, spanning across 15 airports, with a fleet of over 300 trucks and 850 vehicles nationwide. It is delivering services to 50 cities and all driven by 60 plus franchisee nationwide.

Deccan 360 was on a lookout for funding for expansion and it was said Bharti Enterprises and FedEx were in race to pump in money for stake. And, its official now, Reliance Industries sneaked in and acquired a substantial stake.

Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has invested $20 million to $30 million in Deccan 360 for a stake anywhere between 26% to 50%. By acquiring more than 26% in Deccan 360, RIL seems to be exploring the high potential of logistics business, especially in air cargo to strengthen its retail business, where it is gaining more traction.

Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), a subsidiary of RIL, was set up in 2006 and has over 900 stores in 80 cities across 14 states. It now operates formats such as Reliance Fresh, Reliance Mart, Reliance Super, Reliance Digital, Reliance Trends, Reliance Wellness, Reliance Footprin, Reliance Jewels, Reliance TimeOut, Reliance AutoZone and Reliance Living.

  

So, this move by RIL will be an easier way of strengthening the retail business by outsourcing all services to Deccan 360 instead of setting up own logistics business and team.