We are planning for strategic partnership agreements with warehousing companies

PV Rao, Managing Director, Pennar Engineered Building Systems The company is known in the industry for constructing ideal warehouses. Their major customers include Reliance, L&T, ONGC, Indian Logistics, P&G, Schneider Electric among others. PV Rao, Managing Director, Pennar Engineered Building Systems expounds on the organisation's operations and future plans. How many warehouses have you developed till date and how many are under construction? We have constructed about 37 warehouses till now and the area is about 4 million sq ft. Currently, around six big warehouses are under construction. Elaborate on the major design parameters taken into consideration while constructing these warehouses. The major design parameters while building these warehouses are bay spacing, live load, wind load, clear height, column free space requirements within the building, stacking arrangement, design code and many other factors. Besides steel, which are other materials used in their construction? Also, kindly mention the specialised technologies and software utilised? We make use of fibre glass insulation,FRP/Polycarbonate sky lights, louvers, aluminum windows, turbo ventilators, glazing etc for the construction of our warehouses. For our designs, we use STAAD, MBS and for detailing we make use of AutoCAD. What are the various infrastructural facilities provided in these warehouses? The basic infrastructural facilities present at these warehouses are roll-up doors, aluminium windows, racking system, fire alarm and sprinklers, smoke detectors etc. What are the leasing options offered for these? Who are your major clients? Normally, the leasing agreement will be on rate per sq ft basis with an increase of 5-10 per cent per year. Our major customers for warehouses are Reliance, L&T, ONGC, Indian Logistics, P&G, Schneider Electric etc. How do you envision the growth of warehousing in India? What are the upcoming trends in this sector? Driven by growth in production and consumption, organised retail, logistics outsourcing, modern assets and the likely rollout of Goods and Service Tax (GST), the demand for warehousing space is estimated to grow from 391 million sq ft in 2010 to 476 million sq ft in 2013, growing at 6.8 per cent CAGR during this period. As the Indian transportation and logistics market is witnessing new heights, there has been an increasing buzz around technology adoption, network optimisation, multi-modal transportation and improved warehousing. The latter in particular has been evolving rapidly from traditional 'godowns' to modern facilities. What are your plans for the future? We are planning to enter into strategic partnership agreements with some warehousing companies and construct warehouses in various parts of India for leading multi-national companies. Also, we wish to enter into the design and supply of racking systems for warehouses. To share your views, write in at feedback@ASAPPmedia.com