Shriram Transport Finance: Empowering the ecosystem that drives the country

As India emerges from the shadows of the pandemic, it is time to acknowledge the footsoldiers who kept the country on the move in face of sheer adversity.

For Shriram Transport Finance, a leader in its space, it is the faceless truck drivers who kept India alive during the worst phase of the pandemic. The company has now an aspiration for this community that deserves an all around applause.

Umesh Revankar, CEO and MD, Shriram Transport Finance, avers that it is important to acknowledge the critical role played by truck drivers when everything around us was upended.

In an exclusive interview to News9, Revankar outlined his vision seeking to instil pride in the trucker driver job profile and highlight its importance in the entire transportation structure.

“We do not want him to just go and take a certificate of driving lessons and be a driver. He should have a feeling of pride while carrying out his duty,” he added.

Now what do truckers do to deserve such positive attention?

Ever wondered how the item you ordered on your shopping app was seamlessly delivered to your doorstep within a few days? As customers, we tend to get carried away by the conveniences offered to us and ignore efforts made by the foot soldiers in the ecosystem powering it on a daily basis.

The life-changing Covid-19 pandemic made citizens realise the importance of many things that they normally took for granted. One such segment is transportation of goods. The lockdown enforced to contain the spread of the virus triggered widespread disruptions and the supply chain ecosystem stuttered.

So, how did the stakeholders in the system manage to tackle this curveball? Truck drivers endured it all, said Revankar.

“Everything needs to be moved. If the produce or products do not move, there are losses at the end of production and consumers have to pay a higher price. So reaching (the destination) in time is very important and the truck drivers play a very important role. Almost all of our customers are individual operators. Since they operate the vehicle personally, they have a liberty to operate. So they’re not dependent on a driver most of the time. So one of the family members takes the responsibility of operating. So he knows what business is in and what are the risks in the business,” averred Shriram Transport Finance MD.

While we were all cooped up inside our homes, the truck drivers were busy braving the administration imposed restrictions. Revankar admitted that it was indeed a  tough time for the truck drivers in the initial days of lockdown due to all the restrictions in place.

“The confusion was there for 15 days. We also made appeals to various ministries through the media that there should not be restrictions on the movement of trucks. They were eased later and every administrator and government department realised the importance of seamless movements of goods,” he said.

Supporting budding entrepreneurs

The truck driving community is filled with aspirational stories of those who started off as drivers and then went on to become fleet owners. Revnakar wants to provide the financial support to give further wings to their ambitions and help spawn an entrepreneurial culture.

“The owner of the business enterprise has taken a loan and he needs to return the loan and he wants to be a successful entrepreneur. So making him a successful entrepreneur is our job. We wanted to play that role even during the Covid period as that is our ultimate goal,” he said beamingly.

Revankar also shed light on how the company is looking to expand its role beyond a financial entity. “When we look at the trucking community, we are not looking at them as only a customer. We wanted to address certain issues and one of them was education of their children. A driver is generally away from home for 20 to 21 days. So in the absence of a breadwinner, the education requirements of their children were not met. So, we thought of giving scholarships to them.

“Then, comes the health part. Initially we thought we will just try and put in a mobile van and see whether our customers and the trucking community appreciates it. To my surprise, every day there used to be maybe a hundred people coming into that clinic. We have around 25 vans across the country and since medicine is free, they don’t have any hesitation to come. I think constant medical check-ups are very important for drivers after they cross 45. That is something which we want to do in a big way now,” he said.

Shortage of skilled drivers

In India, many vocations carry with them a certain degree of stigma. Driving trucks is one of them. Revankar rued the fact that the small pool of drivers in the country is one of the major impediments plaguing this ecosystem and it became evident during the oxygen crisis as there weren’t too many drivers to transport oxygen.

“Sometimes, a cleaner graduates to a driver, not really wanting to be a driver. Mostly, they come into the profession due to some family members being a part of it. Driving trucks containing oxygen cylinders is not simple and needs different skills and training. Fortunately, we were already in one of the sessions of training because we have been training drivers for the last five years under our CSR programme,” he said.

One of the major events triggered by lockdown restrictions was mass migration of people from cities to their native places. The transport community too felt its impact. Revankar confessed that navigating that period was a challenging task.

“Most of the drivers in western parts of the country come from Bihar and Jharkhand. So, they had to go all the way back to the east. It took a long time for them to return. So, the last fleet operators were hit badly because they were dependent on these drivers. There is a shortage of skilled drivers in India,” he said.

(This story was first published on news9live.com)