Steel e-com portal plans warehouses in south

Steel aggregator with an e-commerce portal SteelonCall Services (India) Pvt Ltd plans set up warehouses in at least five major locations across south India by 2020 as part of its expansion programme.

The first in the series of such facilities will come up in Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh, with an investment of ₹32.68 crore, chairman and managing director A. Ravi Kumar said here on Tuesday.

Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kochi are the other locations where SteelonCall Services would be setting up warehouses by 2020, he said, adding the total investment would be in the range of ₹120 crore to ₹150 crore.

Since it began operations in December 2016, the company has dealt in around 35,000 tonnes of steel with a transaction value of ₹150 crore, he stated, adding the proposed warehouses would have a capacity to handle 50,000 tonne every month. The warehouses, he said, would help the company, which is keen on establishing a pan-Indian presence, stay closer to customers in new markets.

SteelonCall Services (India) is an online platform that connects stakeholders in the steel supply chain. It offers multiple brands and grades of steel sourced from vendors and manufacturers across the country, to the users. The business model is focused on the direct delivery of steel from manufacturers through digital market place. The business is sustained through the handling charges of ₹200 per ton it levied on each transaction. At present, the company services clientèle in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Odisha, Mr. Ravi Kumar said.