DRS Logistics, part of the Hyderabad-based DRS group, is planning to build warehouses in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore to provide third party logistics services to India's booming retail industry.

"The warehouses, to cover 1.4 million square feet, will be ready by July this year," said DRS group director AK Agarwal, who was also cited in a report by India's Business Standard, as saying his company would build a total of 4 million square feet of warehouse space in the country by 2010.

Stating that building warehouses in the six cities involved an investment of INR110 crore (US$24.9 million), he also said the firm would be raising INR150 crore either through an initial public offering or private equity placement.

According to Mr Agarwal, DRS is currently providing 3PL services to Hyundai, Bridgestone and Lifestyle. It is on the threshold of signing an agreement with Pantaloon Retail (India) for which it will maintain an inventory warehouse and supply material to the retailer's showrooms across the country.

Starting in the transport business in 1991, DRS group has diversified into household movement, logistics, shipping and air cargo activities over the past 10 years. It currently has a fleet of 550 vehicles delivering goods to 1,200 destinations across the country.

Mr Agarwal said logistics-savvy retailers were moving towards multi-source strategies, pre-distributing product at point of origin and proactively managing the inbound movement of cargo to create more flexible transport and distribution networks.