Gaurav Kundu: Valuing team work and networking as the key focus
Selected as WCRCINT Transformational Leader 2023, Gaurav Kundu, Managing Director & CEO of Tiranga Logistics has come a long way in his business journey striving for excellence, team management, networking capabilities and strong sense of transparency and governance.
In conversation with Gaurav Kundu, Managing Director & CEO, Tiranga Logistics
What makes a reliable and trustworthy business leader?
Ability to give a strong foundation with transparency and sharp focus on robust profitable growth and developing long term association with both internal and external stakeholders is what makes a leader reliable and trustworthy. At Tiranga Logistics Pvt Ltd we have been able to grow from zero to 237 Cr. in revenue, zero to 33 clients and zero to 150 team members in a span of five years with almost zero attrition rate in clients as well as team members. With data and MIS backed reports being sent to clients on daily basis and to discussing the performance against set parameters and forward carrier path of team members on a monthly basis helps in keeping the alignment right in both internal as well as external environment. This leads to acquisition of committed clients as well as team members on a long term basis hence making the business model reliable and trustworthy. In addition to this, maintaining the homogeneity in the way Tiranga Logistics Pvt Ltd operates based on its nine principles gives it advantage of being unbiased and fair to all. Following are the nine principles on which we work and evaluate ourselves:
- We are a company of owners.
- We are value creators.
- We don’t compromise.
- We keep it simple.
- We are principally right at first attempt.
- We use optimally.
- We are disciplined leaders.
- We prioritise decision making and actions.
- We are result oriented.
2. How have you strategised and adopted to the digital transformations globally?
Tiranga Logistics Pvt. Ltd. has been a cash less company from very first year of its existence. This has been possible by way of adopting the net banking payment (Digital Payments) facilities being offered by various financial and non-financial institutions clubbed with in-house developed ERP. This strategy has proved to be major growth enabler as it minimized the time taken between planning and executing the project since there was no physical movement or reconciliation required in terms of money transactions.
Developing in-house GPS platform was second strategy in this regard as this enabled us to improve upon our strength of submitting timely and correct MIS to our client and also allowing us to share the coordinates of movement being made in a transparent manner. A strong Geo-code network was developed to allow information processing with minimum manual intervention.
Generating and submitting the proof of delivery was third transformation which not only reduced the physical effort of tracking the document through the process of receipt and submission but also eliminated the use of paper in this regard.
Tracking the performance through digital HR interphase was fourth strategy adopted to systematically track the performance of team and provide data based discussion points for internal SWOT analysis.
What are the clear changes that you have made to your journey in the last decade?
(a) Adoption of technology for frugal customised solutions.
(b) We have the ability to become the finest and most organised company in Logistics sector. We are certain to be amongst the top 10 logistics service providing company in India within next couple of years and equally capable of achieving a turnover of 500 cr.
Pretty soon we are to become the company to provide services at par with global standards. Also, in terms of the team strength, we will soon reach a point where our employment generation numbers will speak for our stature. We at Tiranga group aim at achieving a sustainable & profitable future and continue to be at a place where we head only upwards.
What is the current vision and mission at your current role?
Vision: To operate as India’s most trusted technology driven and transparent logistics service provider.
Mission: To offer reliable, secure, professional and cost competitive services customised to the customer needs thereby building long standing and mutually beneficial relationships.
How do you draw a balance between target orientation and empathetic and compassionate leadership?
Clear and common alignment of personal goals with the organisational goals helps in maintaining this balance. The target setting exercise needs involvement of all stakeholders from initial stages. This way, the factors that needs attention and consideration are discussed in advance and basis the outcome if that discussion, a decision on target is taken to achieve the set organisational goals.
What has been your greatest strength and weakness in context of leadership?
Strength: Developing a strong team and network.
Weakness: Growth opportunities faring better then judged.
What has been your driving force or philosophy in life?
Perseverance and belief. Believe in the model that we have developed over years based upon data and learnings and then perseverance to hold on to it in testing times.
How do you plan to drive your business at a global level at your current role?
More than taking the business to global level, the endeavor instead is to get global standards to our functioning and work culture.
Your top leadership goals during tough times?
The past year and a half have been tough; pandemic and lockdowns have pushed us to work remotely, requiring the same or even higher efficacy. During these times, we developed our in-house ERP for Finance & operations module. This integrated with our GPS platform has helped us book trips and track them remotely just by logging in to the system and generating required reports.
Our team at different locations of India managed and closed trips at their end and thus we were able to provide business services when many transporters were unable to do so due to lack of technologically advanced environment.
Your greatest success mantras?
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way “
As a leader, I foresee myself leading a team which –
- Owns the best logistics company in India;
- Feels proud in representing the company and takes pride in its actions;
- Ensures to plant 5 lakh saplings in next 5 years to provide a cleaner, greener environment to future generations;
- Creates a safe and healthy work environment especially for women employees;
- Sets the highest level of corporate governance and transparency.
How actively have you been personally involved with corporate social responsibilities? What have you felt driving societal responsibilities?
A strong focus on environment as a subject. Planting trees on clients premise and not only advocating but operating green fuel fleet.
Being the first generation entrepreneur I’m not only working for economic growth of Tiranga but also proactively focus on environment as a subject. Planting trees on clients premise and not only advocating but operating green fuel fleet.Helping the underprivileged children and also by associating with different NGO’s.
- Lowering environmental impact by switching the entire fleet of 200 vehicles for a customer from diesel to CNG.
- Providing level playing field to your vendor partners and saving their traditional businesses from dying out.
- With our strong credentials and market expertise, we have created a market for ourselves as well as for our vendors.
- The workflow structure in our company is such that swift movements within the teams are enabled to let workforce have exposure to different level of operations, making them flexible enough to move within the organisation.
- We organise courses & mentorship programmes at both operational and finance level for our employees. Periodical course completion and certifications by employees have made them learn skillsets as per the changing needs of the business.
What’s your vision for the industry and the Indian economy?
The next few decanted belong to India. Logistics as a sector is the backbone of economy and with the correct government policies like gati shakti in place, we are heading towards the golden age in this sector. The Indian Economy looks to grow in double digit going forward making robots and sound progress.
A pure patriotic by heart I want to simplify the complexities of logistics and strive to operate as India’s most trusted technology driven and transparent logistics service provider.
