The current pandemic placed an unprecedented strain on supply chains globally, disrupting regional and international networks. As the world moves towards an uncertain stability, businesses worldwide have started analyzing this new landscape to apply the lessons they’ve learned. Creative pivots and operational adjustments have helped industries all across the world to get through various challenges that were brought in. With e-commerce gaining maximum significance in the ‘New Normal’, adapting to a dramatically altered supply chain and logistics landscape has become the only alternative.

During 2020 and mid-half of 2021, the Indian logistics and supply chain sector evolved from being a support sector to a high impact sector. While the massive vaccination drive and of the other medical necessities like oxygen concentrators have already led the sector to evolve rapidly, it is now ready to take a giant leap in the coming years, driven by the following trends:

1. Adoption of Technology: This is one of the most evident developments that has largely been accelerated due to the pandemic and has highly impacted the sector in a number of ways.
   
2. Emphasis on Cold Supply Chain: The Indian cold supply chain sector is set to grow at a CAGR of 17-18%, till 2022 (Source: Indian Cold Chain Industry Outlook 2022), due to demand for cold storage, primarily driven by the pharma sector, especially the vaccine supply chain in early 2021, followed by requirements from seafood, meat and similar industries.
   
3. Growth in 3PL and 4PL providers as Manufacturing grows: The Indian 3PL market is expected to register a growth rate of over 11.5% during the period of 2020-2025 (Source:Mordor Intelligence). In 2021, agility, speed and mobility are the key goals for a robust supply chain network and preference of 3PL and 4PL service providers.
   
4. Implementation of Sustainable Practices: With the rise in demand for adoption of greener business operations – both in India and outside, a lot of logistics players in the sector are turning to eco-friendly and sustainable operations that are smarter, technology-driven and cost-effective.
   
5. Rise in Multi-modal Connectivity: Sectors like automobiles, e-commerce retail, farm and agriculture, healthcare, in particular are fueling the demand for multi-modal logistics.
   
6. Increase in Exports: With the government bringing in many new policies like ‘Zero Defects, Zero Effect’, Indian market is gaining exposure to premium brands and industries in unconventional niches. This is leading to the boosting up of both foreign exports and domestic consumption.
   
7. Growing opportunities for container manufacturers in India: The Indian container manufacturing industry is set to boom as they are now stepping up to fill the demand-supply gap in the global supply chain network.

It would be fair to say that logistics companies rose to the challenges and adapted to drive onwards towards growth and supply chain trends are constantly evolving as they are interconnected with the growth of the market. 

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