Kozhikode : Aghin Roadways, one of the largest cargo fleet operators in the country with more than 1000 trucks on the road and part of the multi-diversified Team Thai group with interests in FMCG, automobiles, tourism and real estate, has announced expansion plans involving an investment of more than Rs.180 crores in FY 23-24. Announcing this here in Kozhikode, the group's hometown, Dr. P C Thahir, Managing Director, Aghin Roadways, said the plans also involve geographical expansion as the operations grow to further north of the country. "Presently, 50% of our business is from the south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Telangana and Karnataka and in the current year, we want to increase the share of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in the pie, which is now around 50%," he said. Presently Aghin Roadways has 16 branches in the central and south of India. In the current year, the company is opening up 6 more branches further north, in Jaipur (Rajasthan), Jharsuguda (Odisha), Kolkata (Bengal), Hamirpur (UP), Panipat (Haryana) and Kotla (Karnataka).
The company has finalized purchases of 300 trucks in FY 3-24 and has already purchased 151 trucks from Ashok Leyland for the current year which is worth around Rs.90 cr. "Presently, the company operates in 9 states of India, handling more than 3 lakh tons of cargo every month. Our major clients include India Cements, UltraTech, Dalmia , ACC, Ambuja & GHCL among others. With the current expansion plans in force, we target to handle 4 lakh tons of cargo every month with an annual business of Rs. 420 cr, a growth of 20% over last year’s Rs.350 cr" Ashique Thahir, Director, Aghin Roadways said.
Currently, Aghin alone employs a workforce of more than 2500 personnel in addition to nearly 2000 strong workforce in the other group companies. "We would like to increase this also in the current year and plan to recruit around 750 personnel," Dr. Thahir said.
The company was one of the first cargo movers to rebound after the covid break as it had made huge Bharat Benz purchases just before covid. "Immediately after the covid, we redrew our growth plans and went ahead with further purchases. Both in bulk and individual cargo, we see attractive growth prospects as we offer reefer, bullet train operations, Samridhi Highway Projects- Nagpur to Mumbai, Nagpur Metro among others. We also have plans to expand to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the next fiscal," Dr. Thahir said.
