Tier‑2/3 logistics evolving

India’s logistics map is moving beyond the big metros as warehousing, roads and digital tools push faster fulfilment into smaller Indian cities. (dpiit.gov.in) The shift is showing up in physical capacity first. Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 cities held about 100 million square feet of warehousing stock in 2024, roughly 18.7% of India’s 533.1 million square feet total, according to a JLL report cited by The Economic Times. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) That 100 million square feet figure was four times the 2017 level, and JLL said companies are adding smaller fulfilment centres closer to end consumers to cut delivery times and logistics costs. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The government has been building the connective tissue behind that expansion. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade says PM Gati Shakti was launched in 2021 to improve multimodal, first‑ and last‑mile connectivity, and the National Logistics Policy followed in September 2022. (dpiit.gov.in; pib.gov.in) By October 2024, PM Gati Shakti had onboarded 44 central ministries and 36 states and union territories, with 1,614 data layers integrated and 208 infrastructure projects worth ₹15.39 lakh crore assessed under its planning framework. (pib.gov.in) Road capacity has expanded alongside that planning push. India’s national highway network reached 146,145 kilometers in 2024, up from 91,287 kilometers in 2014, while four‑lane‑and‑above stretches grew to 48,422 kilometers from 18,371 kilometers over the same period. (pib.gov.in) A second change is happening at the doorstep, where online sellers are trying to stop bad orders before a van is dispatched. In Indian e‑commerce, Return to Origin means a shipment fails to reach the buyer and comes back to the seller. (mediabrief.com) Shipway said in July 2025 that nearly 26% of cash‑on‑delivery orders were returned in fiscal 2025, versus less than 2% for prepaid orders, based on millions of shipments processed through its platform. (mediabrief.com) Its city data showed wide variation: Vadodara had an 18% Return to Origin rate, while Patna was at 35%, and Shipway said slower delivery attempts were linked to more returns. Orders attempted in one to two days had a 22% Return to Origin rate, rising to 35% when attempts came after more than five days. (mediabrief.com) Delhivery said its machine‑learning Return to Origin predictor was being used by more than 4,800 e‑commerce businesses by May 2024 and could reduce cash‑on‑delivery returns by up to 20% by flagging risky orders before shipment or at checkout. (delhivery.com) The public side of the system is getting more digital too. The government said in September 2025 that the Unified Logistics Interface Platform had connected more than 30 digital systems and processed over 160 crore transactions, while the Logistics Data Bank had tracked more than 75 million export‑import containers across 101 inland container depots. (pib.gov.in) Put together, the pattern is straightforward: more storage is moving closer to smaller cities, transport links are getting denser, and sellers are using data tools to verify orders before the last mile begins. (economictimes.indiatimes.com; dpiit.gov.in; delhivery.com)