Once an order is placed and confirmed, XPS will be responsible fordistributing the merchandise. Initially the facility will be offered withinthe cities of Bangalore, Calcutta, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi,Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur and Pune. Goods will also bedespatched from these cities to over 800 destinations countrywide.The delivery will be made by the existing dedicated fleet of containerisedvehicles XPS operates across the country.

Upon delivery, XPS will collect the cheque or demand draft from the customeron the behalf of the company and courier the payment. In case of credit cardpayments, XPS will get the charge slips filled up at the time of delivery.Payment through the net will also be introduced once it is legalised.According to K Prabhakar, chief executive officer, XPS Cargo Service, thenew facility will be a business-to-customer and a business-to-businesse-link.

XPS caters to the automobile companies, like Maruti, Telco and Daewoo, forspare distribution and computer hardware providers. It also makes one piecedeliveries for individuals.

The XPS service, which was launched in 1997 doubled, its business last yearfrom Rs 21 crore in 1998-99 to Rs 42 crore in 1999-2000. For the currentyear, with its new facilities in place, it is targeting Rs 75-crore business.XPS will also be launching its website in July. At present, an XPS customercan get latest information on the movement of his cargo-from the pickup tillthe time it is delivered-through a phone call to their office. The flow ofinformation to the corporate centres from destinations is made possiblethrough computers.

A radar-like system and hand-held data capturing units are used to monitortruck movements. Information is then flashed to a centralised computersystem.

After the website is launched, all a customer will need to do is to log onto the site and give the consignment number. The information will be updatedevery hour.

The company will also launch System Link in September for greaterconnectivity with customers giving it a business of more than Rs 5 lakh amonth.

TCI had recently also launched logistics focus.com, a vortal on thelogistics industry. The aim of the vortal is to provide a forum as well ascomprehensive information and services on the industry. The vortal willinclude a listing of service providers of third party logistics, all modesof transport, warehousing companies, freight forwarding and custom clearingagents.