Pankaj Kumar Bhardwaj, Senior Vice President and Business Head – Warehousing and Adani Agri Logistics at Adani Ports and SEZ, said on Tuesday that India's warehousing growth is poised to move well beyond traditional consumption centres, with states like Odisha, West Bengal, and Assam emerging as significant new markets. Speaking in New Delhi, Bhardwaj outlined a strategic pivot toward Tier B and C cities as the company looks to diversify its logistics footprint across the country.

Current Portfolio and Future Roadmap

Bhardwaj noted that of the company's roughly 13–14 million square feet of warehousing capacity, nearly 60–70 per cent is currently concentrated in Grade A cities. However, he said the company's forward-looking strategy is no longer confined to these major consumption hubs. 'If we talk about our future roadmap, we are focusing not just on the consumption centers which are Grade A, but we are focusing on B and C grade cities as well,' he said.

The company already holds land parcels in several of these emerging locations, enabling it to develop ready-to-use facilities aligned with customer requirements. It also offers build-to-suit (BTS) solutions for clients seeking customised warehousing space, adding flexibility to its service model.

Port-Led and EXIM-Driven Expansion

A key pillar of the expansion strategy is export-import (EXIM) and port-led development. Bhardwaj pointed to the company's network of 15–16 ports across both coasts as a structural advantage, particularly as the government intensifies its focus on boosting exports. He projected that over a 5 to 10-year horizon, this port-linked warehousing model would generate substantial volume growth.

On the eastern seaboard, the company is actively developing a port at Dhamra and has recently secured two berths at Paradip. On the southern coast, Vizhinjam Port in Kerala — now functioning as a major transshipment hub — is another focal point for the group's logistics infrastructure build-out.

Eastern India: An Untapped Warehousing Frontier

Bhardwaj described the eastern side of India as relatively underdeveloped from a warehousing perspective, making it one of the most promising growth corridors. He said states such as Odisha, West Bengal, and Assam are expected to contribute meaningfully to volume growth while also helping reduce overall logistics costs across the supply chain ecosystem.

This comes amid a broader trend of state governments rolling out dedicated logistics policies to attract manufacturers, industrial developers, and third-party logistics providers. These policy frameworks, Bhardwaj argued, are creating a conducive environment for companies to scale operations in markets that were previously considered secondary.

Why This Shift Matters

India's warehousing sector has historically been skewed toward a handful of metros — primarily Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, and Pune. The push into Tier B and C cities and port-adjacent zones signals a structural maturation of the market, driven by e-commerce penetration, manufacturing decentralisation, and the government's export-promotion agenda. For Adani Ports, the strategy also serves to leverage existing port infrastructure as an anchor for adjacent warehousing and logistics revenues.

As state-level logistics policies gain traction and port capacity expands along both coasts, the eastern and southern corridors are likely to define the next phase of India's warehousing growth story.