After graduating from Purdue University, USA, Mohnish Rathi and Saurabh Gupta came back to India to join their respective family businesses. While Mohnish was engaged in trading business of bearings and industrial equipment Saurabh joined his textile manufacturing business. As part of the operations, both of them administered the logistics part of their businesses. Surprisingly, they found that there were huge inefficiencies and bad service level plaguing the industry. To the rescue were technology and data and mobile revolution worldwide that could change the logistics industry in the country. This triggered the concept of Carrus Trucks in their minds. "It has been an amazing experience so far. It is unbelievable and exciting to see how technology can help in improving efficiency, service and reduce the cost of operation in a traditional industry like transportation. Our expertise in handling operation intensive traditional businesses has given us an edge in scaling and streamline operations at Carrus,"says Saurabh.

Carrus trucks is an asset light model. The company does not own any trucks and all the trucks are owned by fleet owners who are on the platform. This helps in scaling up the platform multiple times in a very short period. It offers full truckload transportation all over the country. The customers are said to have reduced their logistic costs by up to 10 percent and have experienced better service levels than before."We have more than 90 percent customer retention and per

customer monthly revenue is also growing significantly," he avers.

Keeping the Focus Right
A transport startup requires a huge skill set for operations along with technology. It is not merely a pure technology play like a SAAS or an enterprise startup. Also, a highly unorganized market calls for operational expertise. Carrus is well equipped to deal with huge operations along with technology. The company focuses primarily on MSMEs largely the manufacturing plants. "This sector in our country contributes more than 37 percent to the GDP and produces goods worth more than $300 billion in a year. This segment is currently served by the highly inefficient and unorganized transports. We are giving transparent and highly professional logistics solutions to this sector," informs Saurabh.

Carrus has been growing at more than 100 percent year on year

The company uses a lot of Data and Data analytics to ensure customer contentment. "Our solution is good for all stakeholders Shippers, Fleet Owners & Drivers," he mentions. On one hand, the customers get better prices; real time tracking of cargo and hassle free booking while on the other, the fleet owner gets access to its wide customer base located across India. With increased efficiency, the drivers earn more money and better livelihood.

The Growth
Over the years, Carrus has come a long way to charter its path of success. In 2015, it was selected for Hay Group "Next Big 100" Startups of the country. In the year 2016, Carrus was among the only two startups chosen by the MSME Ministry of India for their National Manufacturing Competitive program. The company was also given a cash prize for the same.

Coming to the revenue, the company has been growing at more than 100 percent year on year. It is currently serving around 75 customers and gets repeat business from 80 percent of them. "The total no of vendors/fleet owners on the platform are 364 with an average of 5 trucks each. So on Carrus platform we have a total size of around 1800 trucks," he adds.

Carrus plans to expand further to newer geographies across the country. Currently, it has hubs at Kolkata, Saharanpur, Roorkee, Haridwar, Yamunanagar and Kala Amb(Himachal). In the next one year, it plans to open hubs at Muzzafarnagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Bhiwadi, Ambala, Ludhiana and Amritsar. "In the next 4-5 years, Carrus would have its hubs pan India which would give us an immense muscle in route optimization and load matching," he concludes.