China dominates the Indo-China trade with exports from the dragon nation dominating those back from India. Most of the freight airlines are heavily loaded when coming from China to India, but they fly back empty due to lack of return exports from India. Moreover, the trade logistics is heavily dominated by Chinese airlines.
Anis Ahmed, Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of MGH Group says, Chinese are enthusiastic about selling to India, they like selling everything to Indian market, but India doesn’t export much to China. “We are engaged in China to support our shipments into India. You can’t find enough air freight space to be able to carry your e-commerce, (cargo from China to India). When they (aircraft) go back, they go empty, India doesn’t export much to China.”
The freight flight operations from China to India are mostly undertaken by Chinese freighter airlines such SF Express, YTO Cargo Airlines, while India’s largest carrier IndiGo recently started freighter service between Kolkata and Ezhou in China’s Hubei Province. MGH uses Chinese freighter operators in addition to IndiGo for cargo freight from China to India. He opines that for India to become a major hub of the global supply chain network, Indian carriers will have to become major players in the air freight business, especially with regard to cargo transport to and from India.
