Blue Dart on the Fast Lane

• Launches its new service, SurfaceLine, with a wide network covering over 17,500 locations across 596 route connections, pan India.
• Aims at market leadership in the next five years
• Creates new infrastructure - facilities, vehicles, workforce and technology

New Delhi : September 11, 2007 :

Blue Dart Express Limited, South Asia's largest integrated express courier and package distribution company, today announced the launch of its ground express service, SURFACELINE, in the country. This launch affirms Blue Dart's unique capability of offering end-to-end express distribution solutions.

Blue Dart has already established its market leadership in the domestic air express segment with a market share of 41.7% and continues to be the only player offering an unrivalled domestic air payload of 300 tonnes per night. Blue Dart has been continually investing in building a sustainable and robust infrastructure ahead of the curve to support its business, and help facilitate the trade and commerce of this country. It reaches out to 14,600 locations with its current air express network, and the new ground infrastructure will augment its capability through expansion to 17,500 locations. This new initiative will enable Blue Dart to extend its leadership position in air express to the ground express segment over the next five years.

Speaking on the occasion of the launch, Ani l Khanna, Managing Director Blue Dart Express, said, "Our objective is to be the unmatched, premium, complete end-to-end service provider in the domestic distribution space, focussing on the needs of the business customer. The rapidly improving road infrastructure provides us with an opportunity to achieve this goal. We plan to invest Rs 1000 crore approximately over the short to medium term in air infrastructure, aircraft, and ramping up of ground infrastructure with state-of-the art facilities, transit hubs, with hi-tech material handling equipments among others. Currently we have a modest market share in the ground segment, but aim to leapfrog over other players to achieve market leadership in the express industry over the next five years."

In addition to improvement in the road infrastructure, the growing Indian economy warrants more efficient logistics support. "The Tier II and Tier III cities offer increasing opportunities for Blue Dart's Surfaceline. Owing to the growing affluence of consumers, these areas witnessed rapid growth in demand in the recent past. The emergence of SEZs, EPUs and IT parks also present exciting prospects for our new service," added Anil Khanna.

Malcolm Monteiro, Senior Vice President & Area Director - South Asia, DHL said, "India is on the fast lane to growth. With increasing trade opportunities, DHL is well positioned to provide customers in India with true end-to-end solutions across domestic and international express, covering air and now road express. With the SurfaceLine launch both Blue Dart and DHL customers can access the widest network of locations in India. We expect SurfaceLine to further enhance our domestic offering in India and become integral to our strategy for the country."

Blue Dart differentiates itself through innovation, which it has been at the forefront of the company's activities for more than two decades.

• Expansion to over 17,500 locations
• Addition of over 1 mn Sq ft of warehousing space
• Extension of network and reach pan India
• 58 warehouses to across India by 2010
• Increase in Workforce
• Appointment of Express Sales Associates (ESA) to support roll-out of the new service

• Technology will play a key role in providing customer peace of mind
• GPS enabled vehicles to ensure :
  • Real-time tracking of vehicles
  • Monitoring enroute stoppages, deviations
  • Alert to destinations of vehicle arrivals
• Network Control at Mumbai Headquarters
• Network Control Centre at Mumbai Headquarters.

"Blue Dart will soon be entering its 25th year of operation. In these years, we have succeeded in building a business model that is still unmatched in the country. For SurfaceLine, too, we are investing to provide Blue Dart's trademark reliability and service excellence to the ground express segment", said Anil Khanna.

About Blue Dart:

Blue Dart, South Asia's premier courier, and integrated express package Distribution Company, offers secure and reliable delivery of consignments to over 14,600 locations in India.

As part of the DHL Group, Blue Dart accesses the largest and most comprehensive express and logistics network worldwide, covering over 220 countries, and offering an entire spectrum of distribution services, including express, air freight, ocean freight, supply chain solutions, freight forwarding, customs clearance, project handling and charters through the 4 Business Units in India - DHL Express, DHL Global Forwarding, DHL Exel Supply Chain and Blue Dart.

Blue Dart was selected a Business Superbrand from over 1699 brands across 169 product categories, received the Readers Digest's Most Trusted Brand Gold Award, and is listed in the Dun & Bradstreet top 500 companies in India. The Blue Dart team drives marketplace leadership through its motivated people force, dedicated air capacity, cutting-edge technology, innovation, and value-added services, to deliver unmatched standards of service quality to its customers.

For further information contact :

marketing@bluedart.com
Dated : September 11, 2007