Welspun One shapes India’s logistics future
Imagine a world where logistics is seamless, efficient, and futuristic. This is the vision that Anshul Singhal, MD of Welspun One Logistics Park (WOLP), is turning into reality. With over 18 years of leadership experience and a strong track record of establishing five new businesses from the ground up.
In the bustling industrial landscape of Bhiwandi, WOLP’s colossal 2.4 million sq-ft facility hums with precision. Inside this mega project, a leading company runs an automated system that processes up to 60,000 packages hourly across 200 loading docks. At another site in Thane, India’s first logistics-anchored mixed-use development, WTC Thane, will rise 13 floors into the sky, a vertical marvel in a space-constrained metropolis that will integrate an Urban Distribution Centre (UDC), retail, office, F&B, and experience centre. “This will be the first development of its kind globally. Meanwhile, at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA), the country’s largest single-location warehousing facility spanning ~4.45 million sq ft of BUA is taking shape,” explains Singhal.
Singhal has, over his career, acquired more than 2,000 acres of litigation-free land, and built 39 million sq ft of warehousing that accounts for over 15 per cent of India’s total Grade-A supply. This rare combination of scale, discipline, and sector focus is what positions him as one of the few individuals truly redefining warehousing in India, transforming a once-overlooked godown business into a sophisticated, technology-led logistics ecosystem.
Singhal’s passion for physical infrastructure runs deep, quite literally. Born in Hissar, a city known for its industrial backbone and business families, he grew up in Mumbai and the US around the idea that hard assets were the foundation of long-term value. “I have always been drawn to things that last, that are built, not traded,” he says.
“Five years ago, we started from zero,” Singhal says, sitting in his office in Mumbai’s Lower Parel area. “Today, we manage approximately Rs10,000 crore in assets, with approximately
19 million sq ft of net usable area which is partly built, partly delivered, and partly under construction across five cities.”
This remarkable growth places Welspun One among India’s top five Grade-A warehouse developers, and the largest in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
Before warehousing, he led multiple businesses across sectors like steel construction, renewable energy, and EPC, a journey that began when he was just 25, taking on a CEO role without a team to manage. “Those years taught me how culture, governance, and discipline can make or break performance,” he reflects. It was this early exposure that shaped his leadership philosophy: clarity, empowerment, and ownership.
Behind this progress is Singhal’s team and his journey from a CEO to warehousing pioneer, one that reveals not just his business acumen, but keen and bold steps to identify unmet needs in an evolving market and turn them into new value propositions.
The early identifier
Spotting opportunity where others saw ‘godaams’, Singhal’s entry into warehousing began in 2014 when he joined Warburg Pincus and Embassy to establish a warehousing platform. At the time, warehousing was not even recognised as an industry term in India. “People used to say godaam,” Singhal recalls with a smile.
“It was clear to me that this sector did not just need capital, it needed structure, transparency, and customer empathy,” he says. His conviction was so strong that he proposed an audacious plan to Warburg Pincus, for $500 million to be deployed in 3 years. While there was initial hesitancy, the platform’s first equity allocation did indeed start with $250 million, setting the stage for Embassy Industrial Parks, which later exited to Blackstone in 2019 in what remains India’s largest warehousing exit to date.
“That exit experience validated my hypothesis, because every location we bought was fully leased, was a preferred choice for our clients, and the portfolio saw successful exits. This gave me the playbook,” he says. Singhal’s first warehousing mandate delivered approximately 17 million sq ft of built-up potential. But it was only the beginning. Having identified a fundamentally underserved market with immense growth potential, he was ready to take the next entrepreneurial leap.
In 2019, with personal savings in hand and family financial obligations largely settled, Singhal founded One Industrial Spaces. Within months, this venture evolved into Welspun One, with BK Goenka’s Welspun Group buying a majority stake in One Industrial Spaces and venturing into the warehousing space. “A testament to the vision and mentorship of Chairman BK Goenka, whose guidance has been instrumental in shaping these projects,” says Singhal.
The vision was clear: not just develop warehouses, but financialise warehousing investment in India and create an end-to-end platform encompassing both fund management and development. “Let’s do it with the whole cycle,” Singhal explains. “Where we are the fund and we are the developers.”
While surveying the market, Singhal identified a critical gap in the country’s investment space — there was a void of opportunity for domestic investors to invest in warehousing in India. While $5 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) had flowed into Indian warehousing, domestic investors lacked access to this growing asset class.
FDI was making money. Warehouses were being built, sold, and the money was going back to international investors. But Indian investors who imagined investing in warehousing had no access.
This insight led to the launch of Welspun One’s maiden Fund 1, a Rs500 crore vehicle targeting domestic investment in warehousing, and a first of its kind in India. The timing couldn’t have been more challenging; just as the fund was taking shape, Covid-19 struck.
What followed demonstrated the company’s resilience as it built everything online. “That was the toughest phase of my professional life,” Singhal recalls. “We built an entire hard-assets business, including leadership hiring, leasing, and fundraising, entirely online. And it is with this team that we launched our first Bhiwandi project, secured a million sq ft lease, and raised our first Rs500 crore fund online.”
This period of extreme difficulty proved Welspun One’s mettle. By 2022, they had completed five investments and fully committed Fund 1. The following year brought Fund 2, a Rs2,225 crore vehicle that reached its initial Rs500 crore target in just three months — a remarkable acceleration from the year it took to raise the same amount for Fund 1.
This fundraising success has since expanded, with Fund 2 being fully committed and an additional Rs1,000 crore in co-invest capital underway, of which Rs600 crore has already been committed, reflecting not just financial growth but increasing market validation of Welspun One’s vision.
JP Taparia, founder and promoter of Famy Group, says: “We invested in Fund 1 with a strong belief in the team’s approach and were pleased with the platform’s execution and transparency. Our experience gave us the confidence to increase our commitment to Fund 2. Welspun One has demonstrated consistency in performance and a clear focus on long-term value creation, both of which have reinforced our conviction as repeat investors.”
Rewriting the script
While Singhal and his team’s fundraising prowess is impressive, the true innovation lies in how they fundamentally reimagined warehousing for the Indian market. Central to this approach is an unwavering focus on customer needs.
“We institutionalised the customer voice,” Singhal explains. “Every month, we had a customer focus group. We started listening closely, asking, ‘How can we help you?’ Not ‘Here’s what we do,’ but ‘What do you want us to do?’”
“Customers wanted in-city warehousing and compliant facilities,” he says. “They were frustrated: ‘The roof is leaking during monsoons; goods are drenched; thefts; it’s unsafe for women.’ They needed better spaces.”
This exercise revealed insights that competitors missed. While conventional wisdom held that in-city warehousing wasn’t financially viable due to low rents, Singhal’s conversations with blue-chip companies revealed a different reality. These logistics leaders desired high-quality, compliant facilities within urban centres.
“This was not just product innovation,” Singhal says. “It was solving real, everyday friction for some of the largest companies, and that’s what gave us momentum.” Rather than dismissing these needs as economically unfeasible, they responded with strategic innovation. The result was a defining move – Welspun One became the only company in India to offer a structured, three-product strategy, tailored to address distinct warehousing and logistics use-cases. This comprehensive offering is organised into three categories:
Proxima: First-mile, big-box e-commerce facilities, including fulfilment centres, sort centres, and long-term storage warehouses
Pulse: Urban logistics-anchored mixed-use in-city warehousing for trade within city centres, including micro-fulfilment centres and larger city-based warehouses ranging from 10,000 to 50,000 sq ft
Gateway: Port-based facilities addressing international trade needs, exemplified by the massive JNPA project
By offering this ecosystem of solutions, Welspun One gained a competitive advantage. “When I am sitting with some of our clients, I can now offer the entire ecosystem of solutions,” Singhal explains. “My competitors can only offer the first-mile box.”
This comprehensive approach also helps de-risk the business. The company’s strategy has always been customer-first. “Because if the customer is ready to lease the space, I face no risk in buying the land. My fund becomes highly de-risked, and so does my business, as a lot of it becomes built-to-suit,” says Singhal.
According to Mahesh Chandra, VP, Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles Limited: “Welspun One has been instrumental in supporting us with the construction of new warehouses to handle our entire operations in North India. Their exceptional effort made it possible to set up the facility in a record time of just 1.5 months, making it fully operational within this short period. We believe this setup will be one of the best in the northern region.”
The results speak for themselves: zero vacant space across the portfolio, Fund 1 performing well with returns of around 17–18 per cent, and Fund 2 tracking an IRR (Internal Rate of Return) of about 25 per cent.
Internally, the company has grown to over 200 people – a mix of engineers, investment professionals, compliance experts, and logistics veterans. “We are not just building assets; we are building a culture of precision,” he says. “There’s a standard here, and everyone signs up to uphold it.”
Future-ready infrastructure
Perhaps most remarkably, the team isn’t just building for today’s needs – they are anticipating the future. As e-commerce evolved from same-week to same-day to 10-minute delivery, Welspun One’s facilities adapted accordingly. In 2014, same-week delivery in e-commerce was considered a big success. By 2016–2017, it became all about same-day delivery. This acceleration continued with quick commerce (QCOM) platforms promising 10-minute delivery.
“Honestly, again, I thought it was ridiculous at first,” Singhal admits. “But these companies have created a phenomenal model out of it. And I know as a matter of fact that India is the only country in the world that is successfully running this QCOM model.”
“What excites me most is designing for the unknown -- future tech, future formats, future customer demands,” he says. “The warehousing of tomorrow won’t look like today, and it shouldn’t. The way we build, our facilities will take no less than 30 to 40 years to become outdated.”
Welspun One’s design philosophy is rooted in global benchmarking and local adaptation. The team travelled across key logistics markets around the world and indigenised these ideas to suit India’s climate, labour conditions, and operational realities. Take WTC Thane, for instance – it will be fully temperature-controlled and come equipped with advanced MEP systems to support AI, robotics, and automation, along with drone landing stations for future-ready operations. To support evolving logistics needs, Welspun One is building taller structures – 12 to 14 metres instead of the standard 10 – to accommodate high-density racking. Warehouses are also designed for six to eight air changes per hour to ensure proper airflow and avoid overheating.
Sustainability is core to Welspun One’s future-ready approach. “At our JNPA site, we’re heavily focused on solar energy; most of our warehouses are Platinum-certified green buildings,” says Singhal. “They come with rooftop solar, rainwater harvesting, and water recycling. Sustainability is in our DNA. I’ve been building green for 20 years – we don’t know any other way.” These facilities are designed for minimal energy use, relying on natural cooling, maximum daylight, and minimal air-conditioning. Many operate without artificial lighting during the day, and the company is exploring battery storage to extend green energy use into night operations.
Even worker welfare receives innovative attention. In multiple locations, Welspun One has developed dormitories for blue-collar workers – clean, well-managed facilities with bunk beds, shared toilets, canteens, ATM facilities, and emergency medical response setups. Located adjacent to warehouses, these accommodations enhance employee retention while providing safer, healthier living environments.
What lies ahead
As Welspun One prepares to raise more funds and expand its footprint, Singhal remains cognisant of broader economic uncertainties, particularly around global trade policies. Yet he sees opportunity where others might perceive threats. “I feel India is at a unique inflection point,” he reflects. “After numerous conversations with industry leaders, my personal belief is that we have a real opportunity, provided we’re prepared. That is the key.”
“India is now at the intersection of global rebalancing,” he adds. “From China+1 to India emerging as a standalone strategy, to supply chain diversification, the world is looking at us – but we need to be prepared with the right infrastructure to match that demand.”
This makes warehousing not just a business opportunity, but a national imperative. “We are not just supporting commerce,” Singhal says. “We are positioning ourselves as an infrastructure partner to India’s growth engine, enabling it one compliant, modern warehouse at a time.”
Today, with operations in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, and the NCR region, and selective expansion into Tier-2 cities like Lucknow, Welspun One continues to evolve. “We solve for our customers’ location needs,” Singhal explains. “In real estate, whether industrial, commercial, or residential, location is everything. If we get that right, we have already solved most of the problem.”
It’s a legacy measured not just in square footage, but in structure, governance, and long-term vision, built into every Welspun One facility. “Entrepreneurs thrive in turbulence,” Singhal says with quiet confidence.