---
title: "Logistics Company in India: TCIL Group's Guide to Multimodal, Freight & Supply Chain Solutions"
description: Discover TCIL Group's comprehensive guide to logistics in India, covering multimodal transportation, freight services, and supply chain solutions for efficient shipping.
image: https://blog.tcil.com/hubfs/Blog_banner_260926_1080x1080.webp
---

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 October 16, 2026

# Logistics Company in India: TCIL Group's Guide to Multimodal, Freight & Supply Chain Solutions

 By  [Radhika Suri, Transport Corporation of India Limited (TCI)](https://blog.tcil.com/tci-concor/author/radhika-suri-transport-corporation-of-india-limited-tci)  ·   6 minute read

 

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## TCI Group: A Guide to Logistics, Freight and Multimodal Transportation in India

A **logistics company in India** is a business that plans, moves, stores, and tracks goods for shippers by road, rail, sea, or air. At the integrated end of the market, it runs the whole supply chain from the supplier's gate to the customer's door under one contract.

Most of that work still happens on a truck. About[**70% of domestic freight moves by road**](https://prsindia.org/files/budget/budget_parliament/2025/DFG_Analysis_2025-26_Road_Transport_and_Highways.pdf), and transport makes up around 95% of what the country spends on logistics. Rail, coastal shipping, and dedicated corridors are changing that mix, and the providers that can combine modes are pulling ahead. This guide breaks down the services Indian shippers buy, what **multimodal transportation** means in practice, how the network is changing, how to compare providers, and what an **end to end logistics solution** looks like.

***Key Takeaways:*** *The Indian market runs on a small set of services - truck load, part load, warehousing and 3PL, cold chain, chemicals, over-dimensional cargo, and port and customs work - and providers differ in how many sit under one contract. **Multimodal transportation** pays on long, steady lanes, where rail or coastal shipping carries the middle leg and road handles both ends, and India's freight corridors, ports, and logistics parks are making those lanes reliable for the first time. Compare providers on owned network, mode coverage, visibility, and compliance, and treat the rate card as the last check rather than the first.*

Containers stacked at a terminal are the handover point between road, rail, and sea.

**What Does a Logistics Company in India Actually Do?**

A **logistics company in India** does everything between a factory's dispatch bay and a customer's receiving dock, and the range of that "everything" is what separates a transporter from an integrated provider. The core services are:

- **Freight transportation:** full truck load for dedicated vehicles on one lane, and part load for smaller consignments consolidated through hubs. This is the base of the market, and most **freight transportation companies** stop here.
- **Warehousing and 3PL:** storage, inventory management, order fulfilment, and distribution run on the shipper's behalf, from multi-user sheds to dedicated plants.
- **Supply chain solutions:** 4PL and control-tower services that plan, buy, and monitor transport across several carriers and modes for one shipper.
- **Specialised freight:** cold chain for perishables and pharma, liquid and gas bulk for chemicals, and over-dimensional cargo for plant and project equipment.
- **Port, EXIM, and customs:** container movement to and from ports, customs clearance, and coastal shipping between Indian ports.
- **Cross-border road:** movements to Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan through land customs stations, and operations in the Middle East.

A shipper with a mixed product range typically buys four or five of these at once. The fewer vendors it takes to cover them, the fewer handovers there are for freight to be lost in.

**What Is Multimodal Transportation and When Does It Pay?**

**Multimodal transportation** is the movement of one consignment under one contract using two or more modes - typically road for pickup and delivery and rail or coastal shipping for the long middle leg. It pays when the lane is long, the volume is steady, and the cargo can wait for a fixed departure.

| **Mode** | **Best for** | **Watch-outs** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Road | Every lane, every pin code, first and last mile, time-sensitive cargo | Fuel is the largest cost; transit times fall on congested corridors |
| Rail and container | Long lanes with steady volume, dense or bulk cargo, plant-to-port moves | Fixed departures; terminal handling at both ends |
| Coastal shipping | Bulk and containerised cargo between coastal states, west to east coast | Port dwell; needs road or rail connection to inland origins |
| Inland waterways | Bulk cargo on the Ganga, Brahmaputra, and Goa waterways | Limited reach; seasonal draft on some stretches |

The economics are driven by cost per tonne-kilometre and by reliability. Rail and water are cheaper per tonne over distance. The National Logistics Policy is built around that shift, with a target of bringing logistics cost down[**to 8% of GDP by 2030**](https://www.investindia.gov.in/team-india-blogs/national-logistics-policy-india) from the 13 to 16% range the country has carried for years. For a shipper, the practical test is simple: if a lane runs more than 1,000 km with volume every week, it should be priced multimodal.

 

Dedicated freight corridors are giving rail freight its own tracks and reliable transit times.

**How Big Is India's Logistics Network?**

India's logistics network is large on every mode and growing fastest where the modes meet. The numbers set the context for any provider comparison.

- **Road:** national highways have grown to more than 1,46,000 km, and the truck remains the only mode that reaches every pin code.
- **Ports:** India's major ports handled a record[**915.17 million tonnes of cargo in 2025-26**](https://www.pib.gov.in/PressNoteDetails.aspx?NoteId=158151&ModuleId=3&reg=3&lang=1), and average vessel turnaround has fallen from 96 hours in 2014 to under 50 hours.
- **Waterways:** cargo on inland waterways has risen from about 18 million tonnes a year in 2013-14 to over 145 million tonnes in 2024-25.
- **Rail:** the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors give freight trains their own 2,843 km network, with trains running at two to three times conventional speeds.

For a shipper the effect is that lanes which were road-only five years ago now have a credible rail or coastal alternative, and the **multimodal logistics companies in India** that can offer both are the ones worth shortlisting.

**What Is Changing in Indian Logistics?**

Indian logistics is changing from a road-and-broker market to a planned, multimodal one, and four shifts are driving it:

- **Multimodal logistics parks:** the government has[**approved 35 multimodal logistics parks, with five expected to be operational by 2027**](https://www.pib.gov.in/PressNoteDetails.aspx?NoteId=155038&ModuleId=3&reg=3&lang=2), each one a point where road, rail, and warehousing meet under one roof.
- **Freight corridors:** more than 96% of the dedicated freight corridor network was operational by March 2025, and the target is to lift rail's share of freight from around 35% to 45% by 2030.
- **Digital planning:** PM Gati Shakti brings infrastructure data from 57 central ministries and every state onto one platform, so new roads, terminals, and parks are planned together.
- **A single tax and document layer:** GST and the e-way bill have replaced state checkposts with one consignment document, cutting hours from interstate transit.

India ranked 38th of 139 countries on the World Bank's logistics index in 2023, up six places in five years, and the stated aim is the top 25 by 2030. Every one of those shifts favours providers that already run more than one mode.

 

Logistics yards where containers, trucks, and warehousing meet are where multimodal moves are made.

**How Do You Compare Multimodal Logistics Companies in India?**

You compare **multimodal logistics companies in India** on network, mode coverage, visibility, and compliance, with price checked last. The table below sets out the criteria that separate the **top multimodal logistics companies in India** from a broker with a website.

| **Criterion** | **What to check** | **Red flag** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Owned network | Branch and hub list on your lanes, with addresses | Pan-India claims with no branch list |
| Mode coverage | Road, rail, and coastal capacity under one contract, with the JV or vessel behind each | "Multimodal" that is one truck vendor and a rail forwarder |
| Service range | FTL, LTL, ODC, warehousing, cold chain, chemicals, and EXIM from one provider | Specialised cargo "arranged through partners" |
| Visibility | GPS on every vehicle, a control tower or dashboard, proof of delivery on the day | Status by phone call to the driver |
| Compliance | E-way bill generation, hazardous goods licences, ODC permits, customs credentials | Documentation left to the shipper |
| Safety and fuel | Driver safety programme, vehicle inspection records, alternative-fuel fleet | No safety programme; no fuel-mix data |
| Pricing | All-inclusive quotes with fuel, detention, tolls, and handling either included or listed | Low headline rate with no exclusions listed |

Ask every shortlisted provider for a branch list, a hub visit, a live tracking demonstration, and a rate with exclusions in writing. A provider that has all four ready is running an organised operation.

**What Does an End to End Logistics Solution Look Like?**

An **end to end logistics solution** is one contract that covers inbound materials, in-plant or warehouse handling, outbound distribution, and the reverse flow. The mode on each lane is chosen by cost and reliability, not by whichever vendor is available. In practice it has five parts:

- **One accountable provider:** a single point of contact and billing across road, rail, sea, and warehousing, so no handover is anyone else's problem.
- **Mode by lane:** rail or coastal shipping on long, steady lanes, road on short and time-sensitive ones, decided by data rather than habit.
- **Warehousing in the plan:** multi-user or dedicated sheds placed where they shorten the last mile, not where space happened to be cheap.
- **Specialised cargo inside the same contract:** cold chain, chemicals, and over-dimensional pieces handled by the same group rather than subcontracted.
- **A control tower:** one view of every consignment across every mode, with alerts before a delay becomes a stock-out.

That is the model[**TCIL GROUP**](https://tcil.com/services/) has built since 1958, when it began with one man, one truck, and one office. Today the group runs **pan India logistics services** through more than 1,400 IT-enabled offices and moves cargo worth around 2% of India's GDP every year.

Each mode is owned rather than brokered: TCI Freight for road, TCI Concor for rail and container movement, TCI Seaways for coastal shipping on its own containerised vessels, TCI Cold Chain for temperature-controlled cargo, TCI Chemlog for liquid and gas bulk, and TCI SCS for 3PL, 4PL, and control-tower **supply chain solutions**. For a shipper, that is **multimodal transportation** as one contract rather than five.

**Frequently Asked Questions**

**What is the difference between a transport company and a logistics company?**  
 A transport company moves goods from one point to another, usually by one mode. A logistics company plans the whole movement: it chooses the mode, stores and handles the goods, manages documentation and tracking, and often runs the shipper's warehousing and distribution as well.

**When should a shipper use multimodal transportation in India?**  
 When a lane is long, volume is steady, and the cargo can work to fixed departures. Rail and coastal shipping are cheaper per tonne over distance, and with the freight corridors and port improvements now in place, lanes above 1,000 km with weekly volume are usually worth pricing multimodal.

**How do I verify a logistics company's pan-India network?**  
 Ask for the actual branch and hub list on your lanes, with addresses, and visit one hub. Ask for a live tracking demonstration and a transit-time report for a lane like yours over the last quarter. A provider with an owned network will have all of these within a day.

**What should an end to end logistics contract include?**  
 Scope by lane and mode, service levels for placement and transit time, and all-inclusive pricing with exclusions listed. It should also set documentation responsibility, the liability and claims process, and the tracking and reporting the shipper will receive. Warehousing and specialised cargo should be written in, not assumed.

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