Inside India's pharma logistics Building resilient, compliant, and connected cold chains

India's pharmaceutical exports are transforming global supply chains, with DHL Supply Chain India and Kuehne+Nagel leading the charge through multimodal logistics, advanced digital tracking, and GDP-certified cold chain solutions. As global demand surges for biologics, vaccines, and personalised medicines, both companies anticipate that increased digitalisation, sustainability, and regulatory compliance will further cement India's position as a trusted hub for healthcare logistics worldwide.

- By Sakshi Basutkar

India's pharmaceutical industry is scaling new heights as the country strengthens its role as the "pharmacy of the world." With generics, vaccines, biologics, and personalised medicines driving exports, the spotlight is firmly on logistics. Efficient, multimodal, and GDP-compliant supply chains have become nonnegotiable, especially for air cargo, which carries a significant share of high-value and temperature-sensitive shipments. Two global logistics leaders, DHL Supply Chain India and Kuehne+Nagel India share how they are shaping the pharma cold chain for the next phase of growth.

Building multimodal resilience

Designing supply chains for pharma in India means carefully blending air, ocean, road, and rail. Vikas Anand, Managing Director of DHL Supply Chain India, explains: "We start by analysing the exact requirements of each pharmaceutical product, whether it's temperature sensitivity, urgent timelines, or strict regulatory needs, and then design the most efficient multimodal solution around them." For DHL, this often translates into connecting inland manufacturing hubs to airports and seaports through dedicated road networks supported by route optimisation and real-time tracking tools.

Yuvraj Sharma, Head of Sales & Marketing, Kuehne+Nagel India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, notes that India's infrastructure push is expanding options. "We build lane-specific plans that balance speed, cost, and temperature needs, then select the right mix of transport modes. India's Dedicated Freight Corridors and pharma-specific rail services such as the Hyderabad-Delhi 'Pharma Express' allow us to integrate modes into a single door-to-door solution," he says.