“We were in the direct firing line of exporters and importers at CONCOR during 2001-06,” recalls Amit Kumar who, along with three friends – Rajnish Kumar, Durgesh Govil and Sanjay Mawar – set up Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects Limited to provide efficient and cost-effective flow of materials and facilitate transactions between different parts of the economy. The experience in the railways was quite enriching, as they got to understand railway transportation, movement of cargo, etc. While Amit Kumar was in the corporate office, Rajnish Kumar, his friend from the college days, was handling the Inland Container Depots (ICD). In fact, Rajnish was at the helm, when the largest ICD was set up at Dadri. The third member of the team, Durgesh Govil, a civil engineer, was handling projects, such setting up railway stations and laying new tracks. And, the fourth, Sanjay Mawar, has been a serial entrepreneur all along, having tried his hands at many businesses after chucking his Bihar government job. “Pristine was formed more out of friendship than anything else,” says Amit. “Despite drawing salaries of Rs25,000-30000, we felt we had enough of the government jobs and, so, thought of doing something on our own,” says Amit Kumar. “Though we had many job offers, while we were at CONCOR (Container Corporation of India), we decided salary was not everything in life. That was how we started making power point presentations, trying to understand the bottom lines for the first time,” says Amit Kumar, narrating the team’s journey into entrepreneurship. Luckily for them, Gateway bought into their idea and that was how Gateway Railway Freight Limited was set up in 2006. That was also the time when the government formulated container train policy and some 16 companies, including Gateway, were given licences. After spending two challenging years, understanding the business and the regulatory maze, they decided to jump out and floated Prestine Infraprojects in May 2008. The company was rechristened Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects in October 2009 and went public in June last year. “Logistics used to be more of a transportation and godown business and we are happy that Pristine has contributed to the changing dynamics,” says Rajnish. Pristine was instrumental in creating the terminal ecosystem and the entire business has transformed from infrastructure focussed to customer-oriented model. It is now acknowledged that logistics is an integral part of businesses, providing efficient and cost-effective flow of raw materials and finished goods, and facilitating transactions between the consuming and producing parts of the economy. Serving customers well According to CRISIL, in logistics, the market size of key segments – roads, railways, warehousing, cold chain, logistics and rail freight terminals -- is estimated to be about Rs9 lakh crore in 2020-21. This is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10 per cent to Rs15 lakh crore by 2025-26, as against 5-7 per cent CAGR observed during 2016-21 period, though the logistics market declined by 4-6 per cent in 2020-21, in the wake of the pandemic. “The company’s presence across the entire spectrum of the logistics requirements – from first-mile to last-mile, through B2B transportation connectivity, to warehousing infrastructure, rail transportation and ancillary services, such as weighing and documentation, enables it to service its customers well,” explains Amit Kumar. “Our door-to-door offering cements our position as a one-stop end-to-end B2B solution provider,” explains Rajnish Kumar. Pristine has been able to implement first-mile to last-mile connectivity, on the back of its fleet of 2,624 domestic standard containers, 395 dwarf containers, 390 trailers and 37 rakes with minimal fluctuations in service time.
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Pristine’s terminals have a hybrid model for catering to both, EXIM trade and domestic container traffic
