In the charismatic business field, influential leaders play a notable role in reshaping industries, redefining leadership qualities by fostering innovation, and driving exceptional changes. In the list of passionate architectures of the business world who come from different fields, The Enterprise World throws a spotlight on a remarkable figure emerging from the realm of transportation and logistics. The visionary leadership of Nitij Garg (Head of Marketing at Garg Transport Company) has boosted the growth of the company to a new level and has had an impact on the transportation industry landscape. His transformative initiatives to capitalize on emerging technologies have fortified the company and influenced the field at large.
Understanding Roots of Transportation
Having a vibrant educational background, Nitij Garg graduated in Sales and Marketing from IE Business School, Madrid. He returned to India after that and joined the family business. Before joining the family business, Nitij worked with BLR Logistics (I) Ltd and was a partner at Whitespace Logistics Pvt. Ltd. which focused on transportation and warehousing management services.
While working at BLR Logistiks in 2017, Nitij Garg’s core focus was to understand the driver’s journey before and after completing an import or export trip. He worked closely with their garage team, understanding the process of making a lorry receipt, keeping drivers’ accounts, and matching the cash statement at the end of the day. At BLR Logistiks, he spent time with drivers understanding the roots of the transportation business.
Modifying the Existing Ecosystem
In 2020, Nitij Garg started his professional journey with Garg Transport Company. In 1995, his father Shri. Siyaram Garg founded GTC in a rented one-table-chair office in Masjid Bunder. After completing his Master’s from Spain, Nitij started a diamond jewelry firm in February 2020. A few days after starting the company, a COVID lockdown was imposed and unfortunately, his business partner passed away during the same time. Nitij was devastated. It was at this time that his father suggested to join the family business of transportation. Nitij wanted to do something different from transportation because that is what GTC has been doing for the last 25 years.
Nitij Garg embarked on the journey of becoming an influential leader by learning about warehousing management. It was a complimentary service that the company could provide to clients along with transportation which wasn’t provided by many other transporters. Nitij saw a huge opportunity in it and after gaining on-ground experience and enough knowledge about warehousing, he started offering warehousing management to clients in 2021.
A Knowledgeable Transporter
In the initial days, Nitij Garg struggled to understand how import & export transportation worked. He engaged himself in cold calling potential clients, and each time he forwarded an inquiry to the sales team, they would respond with a series of questions. He was hesitant to ask questions to the same potential clients because he assumed that clients would perceive him as someone who was asking too many questions in the initial call. Gradually, Nitij started gaining confidence and asked all relevant questions in the first call itself. Now, he has been considered a knowledgeable transporter, and the questions he asked made sense to quote a precise rate.
Expert in Container Transportation
According to Nitij Garg, a group of employees and drivers of the company are behind the long-standing success of GTC. Some of them have spent nearly 20 years of their life with the company. Through thick & thin, the GTC family has always been standing strong and always ready to transport the cargo. Garg Transport Company offers transportation services from an owned and attached fleet of trucks & trailers Pan-India from Nhava Sheva port. Apart from transportation, it provides warehousing management services at four locations in India, namely, Kalamboli, Bhiwandi, Nhava Sheva & Delhi.
Being an expert in container transportation, GTC serves both import & export cargoes in 20ft, 40ft, 20ft & 40ft Flat Rack containers, 40ft open top containers, (only full truckloads). One of its strongest offerings is the movement of “Over Dimension Consignments (ODC)”. ODC cargoes are anything that exceeds a regular truck size. Moreover, it supports services like live tracking of the truck, well-trained staff to load & unload almost any kind of cargo at the warehouse, etc. In addition to these services, GTC offers on-time & committed deliveries and specialized handling of fragile goods which make the company different from its competitors in the market.
Currently, GTC offers transportation and warehousing management services from Nhava Sheva port and it is planning to expand its service offerings from different ports in India starting from Mundra port. Contemplating connecting with new clients and increasing the fleet size in upcoming years, GTC is focused on keeping its existing customers delighted. Furthermore, it is intriguing to make a pitch in all logistic services under one roof and not just stick to transportation and warehousing management which helped the company to grow. From customs clearance, shipping, warehousing, transportation, and last-mile delivery, Nitij Garg aspires to create a brand of Garg Transport Co. in the transportation and logistics sector.
“Just the right price at just the right time”
Speaking about the business scenario in the logistics industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a sudden hike in the logistics costs all across the globe irrespective of the container size, destination, or the cargo inside the truck. This was majorly due to the panic of shutdown and lack of workforce. GTC faced a similar challenge when drivers started returning to their hometowns during the COVID-19 pandemic which created a shortage. During this period, GTC supported its all drivers by supplying food materials, safety equipment like masks/ PPE kits, and adequate medicines at its garage.
Every driver was given medical care and attention immediately after falling sick. Due to this, all drivers of GTC stayed and were able to deliver essential services cargo even though trucks were carrying oxygen tank containers. After the COVID-19 pandemic, clients discerned which service providers stood by them and which ones capitalized on challenging times. Due to this, some clients of GTC have given continuous business just because it provided “Just the right price at just the right time”.
The Real Backbone of GTC
The core value of GTC is to leverage the unique strength of its employees and lead by example. The team at Garg Transport Co. works in harmony with each other and gives support to other departments as and when needed.
According to Nitij Garg, employees are the backbone of any business. He elaborates, “At GTC we have more than an employee-employer relationship, we are a family. Our 35-member team is divided into five departments- Top Management, Traffic Dept., Accounts Department, Garage Team, Back office Team, and On-Field Team.”
- The Top management includes Nitij Garg’s father- Shri Siyaram Garg, his elder brother- Mr. Uddhav Garg, and Nitij himself, who brings in business and takes care of the finances.
- The traffic team consists of 4 members responsible for the day-to-day business operations and managing a fleet of trucks.
- The accounts team takes care of managing the funds and making and receiving payments.
- The garage team is situated near JNPT where all its trucks are parked and also takes care in terms of service/ repairs/ etc. for GTC’s fleet.
- The back-office team takes care of depositing cheques, sending out invoices and acknowledgment couriers, updating vehicle dispatch status, etc.
- The on-field team makes sure that all the trucks are sealed & locked before dispatch and carries a lorry receipt (LR) with them.
Learning from the Basics
In the year 2020, Nitij Garg became a partner in a company called Whitespace Logistics Pvt. Ltd. At WLPL, he offered 30,000 square feet of storage space offering loading, unloading, sealing, docking, re-packing, and general & bonded warehousing management services. Soon he decided to take a timely exit and join the team of Garg Transport Company as a marketing intern. Today he is handling the responsibility at GTC as head of the Sales & Marketing division.
Being one of the most inspiring leaders of his generation, Nitij Garg experienced a series of achievements in his journey. He moved 42 Over Dimensional Cargo (ODC) trucks from Pune to Mohali for the manufacturing plant of the client, Tynor Orthotics Pvt. Ltd. He helped the customer save nearly 20% on the overall transportation cost. Moreover, Nitij introduced new services in his company. Since GTC was only providing transportation services, he initiated Warehousing Management Services to clients after joining the team. Today GTC offers more than 1,00,000 square feet in storage spaces at four locations in India.
In February 2021, Nitij Garg became a member of Business Networking International (BNI) and represents GTC as a trusted logistics service provider. To date, the team achieved more than 3 crores of business by offering the best in industry service to BNI members and their referrals.
Innovation is a key to the business
Nitij Garg explains “Innovation is the key to business growth” with the help of an example. GTC used to track its vehicles by calling the drivers and updating its team and the client about the location of the truck. It was not a very precise way to track because sometimes the drivers wouldn’t pick up the call or were sleeping phones switched off, etc. To solve this issue, GTC installed GPS systems in all its trucks which made tracking its own fleet easy at the click of a button. However, this was not a real problem. The real problem was to track vehicles sourced from the market on which GTC’s team did not have any control.
On account of this, the team faced several issues such as theft, multiple cargo loading, seal breaking, and unnecessary stoppage enroute. To solve this issue, the company initiated the sim-based tracking of the truck. With the help of sim-based tracking, once the link was shared, clients could directly track their cargo, GTC could identify unnecessary stoppage and the driver was also aware that he was being tracked in case the cargo was lost. Due to this innovative introduction, the company managed to gain 95% control of the market-sourced vehicles. This is a classic example of how innovation can help a company provide exceptional service to its existing clients and reduce the workload of its employees, making it a win-win situation.
“Build long-term relationships”
Having a number of clients satisfied with the services offered by GTC, Nitij Garg highlights experiences with a few of them. The company was approached by a construction company who are in the trade of manufacturing pre-fabricated walls and structures. However, transporting 800 tons of cement walls was a challenging task to do. The specialized project execution team of Garg Transport Company understood the whole requirement, took adequate measurements of the cargo, and came up with a solution. The company customized one of the 40ft Trailers in such a way that the fragile cemented walls do not break or crack.
The client was expecting a 20% transit loss, and despite that, GTC achieved a 100% delivery rate with the customization. There was not even a single breakage in the complete 50 round trips executed by the company. The client was extremely satisfied with its service. This is what GTC desired to achieve in the long term- satisfied and happy clients. In link with this client experience, Nitij Garg highlights the quote of his father, Mr. Siyaram Garg, Founder- Garg Transport Company, “Build long-term relationships, because money will come & go.”
