By Aparna Desikan
CHENNAI: More women are entering the logistics industry on the back of rising demand from e-commerce companies, which are setting up fulfilment centres, coupled with corporates looking to improve their gender diversity. From traditional packing consignments, women are now engaged in operating fork lifts and delivery too. HR firms say that there has been a 20% increase year-on-year (YoY) in the number of women coming into the workforce. Staffing firm TeamLease notes that the gender diversity, which was at 5% two years ago, is set to improve from the current 10% to 20% by 2021.
The Logistics Skill Council, which partners with companies such as TVS Logistics and others, sees 10-15% increase in the number of women trained. The council’s CEO T S Ramanujam said, “We have placed close to 5,000 after skilling and training — 12% of the total people placed in a year. Since fulfilment centres are now closer to the area of demand, the traditionally maledominated space is seeing women. There has been a doubling in the number of women trained by us.” Women not only take up softer roles such as packing, but are also trained in forklifting and freight forwarding, he added.
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