Shankar Shinde
MD
Shankar started his career in the logistics industry before completing his education at IIM Ahmedabad which helped him in developing expertise in this field. Later on, the institute helped him in building his confidence to foray into entrepreneurship which leads to the establishment of Global Express Multi logistics. He then pursued MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, The learning from JBIMS and IIM has helped him in taking up the challenges with practical aspects to make research on specialized projects. Presently, Shankar is heading the FFFAI (Federation of Freight Forwarders Association in India), an Apex body of Customs Brokers Association in India, and representing the National Federation to the International Federation of Customs Brokers in India (IFCBA) as Managing Director. As a part of the federation, he had a good opportunity to work on Government projects like INSTC (International North-South Transport Corridor), INSTC undertaken under Ministry of Commerce & Industry, international convention, TIR international convention undertaken under Ministry of External Affairs , Ministry of Port , Shipping & Waterways and Ministry of Finance and also was nominated by World Bank to work on a logistic connectivity project in Armenia.
Shankar engages in an exclusive interaction with CEOInsights.
Take us through your professional background & experiences and what inspired you to foray into the logistics industry?
We are into Customs Brokers business which requires not only experience but also one has to pass the examination conducted by the Government of India under Customs Brokers Licencing Regulations (CBLR) of the Customs Act and International Freight Forwarding Business. Our expertise is in handling Industrial as well as Perishable cargo in Containers,
Break bulk, and Airfreight. We also provide logistical services to landlocked countries, cross-country trade shipment services. With the single window demand of customers, we started offering door-to-door services in the complete supply chain with effective, efficient, and competitive prices implementing technology.
Tell us about the learning and experiences that you have acquired from IIM Ahmedabad and how are you implementing those learning in your current role?
I have worked in the field of Logistics before completing IIM Ahmedabad and my tenure in the institute helped me in building confidence to build an entrepreneurship model with all my knowledge and expertise in the logistic industry. This made me aware of how effective logistics would be if it is theory driven as this is an unorganized sector transforming very fast from the traditional style of business to Professionalism. There are a lot of operational models that can be implemented in Logistics to yield results in enhancing Logistics performance to cost benefit and reduce dwell time.
Where is Global Express Multi Logistics positioned in the industry today?
Our Chairman Datta, my elder brother with a strong background and rich experience in the Shipping and Logistics industry helped us in establishing our own Company, Global Express Multi-logistics chaired by Datta was very fortunate for me to perform as Managing Director with an experience and background in the logistics industry whereas my brother possesses an experience in Shipping Industry which eventually helped us to build this organization far better.Our domain knowledge and individual expertise helped our logistic model to be able to fit all the trade requirements. After years of hard work and dedication, we are so proud to be one of the industry leaders in Logistics, and with our expertise, we also got the opportunity to participate in the Association, National and International Federation..
What all challenges have you experienced as a founder in your journey? How do you overcome those challenges and what have you learned from them?
One of the major challenges that we face on regular basis is hiring the right person for the right job as there has been a lack of training institutes in our country. However, in order to overcome this challenge, we hire people with a certain skill set and train them as per the required skill to further provide with On Job Training for a better
Technology is the best leveraging tool to enhance performance
Tell us about the learning and experiences that you have acquired from IIM Ahmedabad and how are you implementing those learning in your current role?
I have worked in the field of Logistics before completing IIM Ahmedabad and my tenure in the institute helped me in building confidence to build an entrepreneurship model with all my knowledge and expertise in the logistic industry. This made me aware of how effective logistics would be if it is theory driven as this is an unorganized sector transforming very fast from the traditional style of business to Professionalism. There are a lot of operational models that can be implemented in Logistics to yield results in enhancing Logistics performance to cost benefit and reduce dwell time.
Where is Global Express Multi Logistics positioned in the industry today?
Our Chairman Datta, my elder brother with a strong background and rich experience in the Shipping and Logistics industry helped us in establishing our own Company, Global Express Multi-logistics chaired by Datta was very fortunate for me to perform as Managing Director with an experience and background in the logistics industry whereas my brother possesses an experience in Shipping Industry which eventually helped us to build this organization far better.Our domain knowledge and individual expertise helped our logistic model to be able to fit all the trade requirements. After years of hard work and dedication, we are so proud to be one of the industry leaders in Logistics, and with our expertise, we also got the opportunity to participate in the Association, National and International Federation..
What all challenges have you experienced as a founder in your journey? How do you overcome those challenges and what have you learned from them?
One of the major challenges that we face on regular basis is hiring the right person for the right job as there has been a lack of training institutes in our country. However, in order to overcome this challenge, we hire people with a certain skill set and train them as per the required skill to further provide with On Job Training for a better
understanding of their job role. Apart from this, Customer loyalty and reliability in our industry have been the major challenge for recovering as its difficult to predict the customers’ behavior for business acceptance and business protection.
How do you maintain the balance between your personal & professional life and what has been your success mantra? Also, tell us about your goals that you wish to invest in the company and how are you planning to take them further?
In the logistics industry, it is very hard to maintain a balance between your personal and professional life because of its challenging unpredictable functioning dynamic in nature with a high risk of investment without protection. The change in the mindset of self and customers is very much required with regards to automation and professionalism adaptation because today also in this industry people are used to and always expect individual personal approaches.
Our goal is to invest more into technology as the future of logistics would be on business model adopting technology adaptation is the way forward and it will help in leveraging logistics performance. Along with the technology, the training and skill development of people in this industry needs to be strengthened. Also, we intend to go global network with last mile delivery and that will increase the human resource and enhance Import-Export trade development.
We are proud to be in the Logistics industry as this is the only profession with wider exposure with creating different verticals and expanding with forward or backward integration, Logistics industry learning provide more knowledge, geographical exposure, and various industry expertise with legal aspects, the number of Laws we deal is humongous which gives a lot of learning experience to build confidence. We have to look for a different solution for the same problems which evolve innovation in Logistics for the next generation with higher acceptance and look at this industry as the first choice of Industry with a professional approach. We are now looking towards educating our next generation with a future in logistics to consider this profession by choice with lots of opportunities and exposure to the world. The initiatives of Government of India undertaken under PM Gati Shakti envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is appreciated which will give boost, importance and recognition to have next gen experts in Logistics Industry.
Shankar Shinde, MD, Global Express Multi Logistics
A graduate of IIM Ahmedabad, Shankar was in the logistics field before starting his own venture Global Express Multi Logistics
How do you maintain the balance between your personal & professional life and what has been your success mantra? Also, tell us about your goals that you wish to invest in the company and how are you planning to take them further?
In the logistics industry, it is very hard to maintain a balance between your personal and professional life because of its challenging unpredictable functioning dynamic in nature with a high risk of investment without protection. The change in the mindset of self and customers is very much required with regards to automation and professionalism adaptation because today also in this industry people are used to and always expect individual personal approaches.
Our goal is to invest more into technology as the future of logistics would be on business model adopting technology adaptation is the way forward and it will help in leveraging logistics performance. Along with the technology, the training and skill development of people in this industry needs to be strengthened. Also, we intend to go global network with last mile delivery and that will increase the human resource and enhance Import-Export trade development.
We are proud to be in the Logistics industry as this is the only profession with wider exposure with creating different verticals and expanding with forward or backward integration, Logistics industry learning provide more knowledge, geographical exposure, and various industry expertise with legal aspects, the number of Laws we deal is humongous which gives a lot of learning experience to build confidence. We have to look for a different solution for the same problems which evolve innovation in Logistics for the next generation with higher acceptance and look at this industry as the first choice of Industry with a professional approach. We are now looking towards educating our next generation with a future in logistics to consider this profession by choice with lots of opportunities and exposure to the world. The initiatives of Government of India undertaken under PM Gati Shakti envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is appreciated which will give boost, importance and recognition to have next gen experts in Logistics Industry.
Shankar Shinde, MD, Global Express Multi Logistics
A graduate of IIM Ahmedabad, Shankar was in the logistics field before starting his own venture Global Express Multi Logistics