Blue Dart Ties Up With Hayleys For Lankan Foray

News Clip : The Hindu Business Line , Mumbai.

1st September, 2004.

Blue Dart has extended its brand to Sri Lanka in an attempt to exploit the growing trade between the two countries.

The Rs 355-crore company has entered into a service alliance with the Hayleys Group, a listed company on the Colombo Stock Exchange, to set up shop in Sri Lanka. The alliance, which comes into effect on September 1, will give customers access to a speedy delivery service for documents, packages and supply chain needs. Blue Dart will now cover more than 13,700 locations in India and 400 locations in Sri Lanka.

The revenue sharing would be based on the transaction costs incurred by each company. The alliance is likely to be extended to other markets in the SAARC where Blue Dart has centres, including Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

The Hayleys Group would help Blue Dart extend its reach in the Lankan market, where it already represents several Indian companies including M&M, MRF, L&T, Godrej and Indian Pistons. The group's other activities include transportation, logistics, coir, rubber, environment, agriculture, plantations, inland marketing, knitted fabrics, tourism, financial services, information technology and infrastructure.

"It is for the first time that the Blue Dart brand will be extended outside the country. As part of the alliance, the centres opened in Sri Lanka would bear the Blue Dart brand. Similarly the airwaybill, other documetation and customers care would carry the express player' stamp," said Ms. Tulsi Nowlakha Mirchandaney, Senior Vice-President (Marketing & Projects), Blue Dart. The Director, Hayleys Group, Mr Mohan Pandithage, and Sri Lanka was poised to become a hub for logistics and distribution would play an important role in facilitating trade between the two countries.