This all-women last-mile delivery start-up helps riders buy their own vehicles

E-commerce firms are increasingly opting for women in last-mile delivery roles as they see a decrease in accidents and thefts, turnover and absenteeism rates as well as increased customer satisfaction and operational efficiency, according to all-women third-party logistics start-up Even Cargo.

The start-up was set up to offer a safe alternative to e-commerce companies which were facing several complaints of harassment of women customers by male delivery personnel at the height of the e-commerce boom in 2016. But the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) push by companies today is really what has fuelled growth, COO Karina Bhasin told Business Today.

The start-up set up in 2016, which has a fleet of 250 women riders, offers its services to leading e-commerce players Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Clovia among others in Delhi-NCR, Udaipur, Jaipur, Ajmer and Nagpur. It plans to enter Nasik and Hyderabad soon.

Apart from training women to drive, it also helps them own a vehicle which costs Rs 60,000-Rs 80,000 by getting them in touch with financing organisations for loans at lower interest rates and vehicles at discounted prices because most of the women have no credit history or a bank account. But it's not a freebie, clarifies Bhasin.

"For the down payment for the two-wheelers, we try do as much as possible in the form of loans and there haven't been any loan defaults yet…Suppose it's a 22-month EMI tenure and the rider leaves Even Cargo after 3 months, the vehicle is still theirs and they can work with any other organisation but the asset will remain in their name and they just need to manage their EMIs," Bhasin told Business Today.

The EMI gets deducted from their salary, which is in the range of Rs 28,000-Rs 30,000 a month for those with around two years' experience.

Bhasin says the start-up is not funded by any private equity and is operationally profitable, but it gets funding from organisations like UK Charity- Shell Foundation, DBS Foundation, Walslitz Global citizen, Michigan State University, RPG Foundation, Singapore YIF, Chibber Trust, among others for their training programmes.

Also read: This start-up uses tech to help brands build their brick-and-mortar network