TruckGuru Urges Small Shippers to Confirm Freight Rates Before Loading as Logistics Costs Hit Smaller Firms Harder
Vadodara, (Gujarat) [India], October 18: India’s trucking industry faces a digital reckoning, according to TruckGuru, a Vadodara-based intercity full-truckload booking platform. Shippers can now book trucks on confirmed rates and follow them on live tracking, yet many still pay for empty miles and for surcharges that appear only after the truck is loaded. TruckGuru today called on manufacturers, distributors and traders to budget road freight on fares confirmed before loading rather than on negotiated quotes that can change at the dock.
Empty miles and hidden surcharges
India’s logistics bill stood at Rs. 24.01 lakh crore, or 7.97 per cent of GDP, in 2023-24, according to the Assessment of Logistics Cost in India by DPIIT and NCAER. Road freight, which the estimate combines with pipelines, is the largest component at 41.7 per cent. Fuel accounts for 42.1 per cent of road transport cost. The same study found that firms with turnover up to Rs. 5 crore spend 16.9 per cent of their output on logistics, against 7.6 per cent for firms above Rs. 250 crore.
Truck utilisation explains part of the gap. A June 2021 report by NITI Aayog and RMI India, Fast Tracking Freight in India, found that Indian trucks travel about 300 km a day against a global average of 500 to 800 km, with empty running as high as 40 per cent in some cases. The World Bank’s India Development Update of October 2014 found that state border checks and other delays kept trucks from moving for up to 60 per cent of transit time, pushing firms to hold larger buffer stocks.
“A small manufacturer pays for uncertainty twice. Once when the final freight bill carries charges that were never in the quote, and again when it holds extra stock because it cannot predict when the truck will arrive,” said Hitesh Magnani, Founder, TruckGuru. “If the fare is fixed before loading and the shipper can see where the truck is, the business can quote its own customers with confidence and plan its dock and labour. That is where the savings start.”
Confirmed Rates and Live Tracking
TruckGuru quotes each booking as a trip total, with toll included, and confirms the fare before the truck is loaded. Indicative fares start from about Rs. 26 per km for its smallest vehicle, a Tata Ace, and vary by route and truck size. Shippers can check an indicative range on the company’s online freight calculator before booking.
Dispatched bookings carry live GPS tracking, which customers can follow on the TruckGuru app for Android and iOS. The platform generates the lorry receipt, proof of delivery and a GST-compliant invoice digitally, and supports e-way bills. TruckGuru serves more than 110 cities and focuses on light commercial vehicles for full-truckload intercity moves.
The company also acknowledged the limits of digital booking. A confirmed fare covers only what was agreed, and detention at a congested factory gate or a change of route can still add cost unless the terms are written down in advance. TruckGuru has not yet published independent data on utilisation or empty-mile reduction on its platform.
What TruckGuru Recommends for Shippers
Get written terms on detention, loading time and route changes before dispatch.
Track freight as cost per delivered tonne for each lane, not only the quote per trip.
Keep digital LRs, PODs and invoices in one place so lanes and transporters can be compared on actual transit times.
Ask any freight platform for evidence on utilisation and on-time delivery, not only a list of features.
“Better use of the trucks already on the road will do more for small shippers than adding more trucks,” Magnani added. “Platforms like ours should be judged on the data we publish, and we intend to be measured that way.”
About TruckGuru
TruckGuru (TruckGuru LLP) is a Vadodara-based digital truck booking platform that connects businesses with verified transport vendors for full-truckload intercity logistics across more than 110 cities in India. The platform offers fares confirmed before loading with toll included, live GPS tracking on dispatched bookings, and digital freight documentation for manufacturers, distributors, traders and MSMEs across sectors including FMCG, pharmaceuticals, auto components, textiles, chemicals and engineering. Visit truckguru.co.in.
Media Contact
TruckGuru LLP
507 Krishna Platina, New VIP Road, Vadodara, Gujarat 390019
Phone: +91 72020 45678
Email: cs@truckguru.co.in
Website: truckguru.co.in
