ROQIT & Indian Railways: AI Logistics Platform

Mumbai, Nov 19 (PTI) Aion-Tech Solutions on Wednesday said its wholly-owned subsidiary ROQIT Greenfield Digital has secured a contract from Indian Railways to design and deploy an AI-powered logistics platform for light-to-medium-weight parcel deliveries.

The company said the pilot phase of the project will be launched with South Central Railway in January-February next year, paving the way for a nationwide rollout of a fully digital small parcel delivery ecosystem, the company said.

This initiative marks a significant milestone in modernising India's logistics infrastructure through technology-driven, sustainable innovation, it added.

Aion-Tech Solutions said it is also pioneering sustainable multimodal transportation solutions through its electric vehicle subsidiary ETO Motors.

"Our collaboration with Indian Railways marks a transformative milestone in building India's next-generation, end-to-end logistics ecosystem...that combines the scale and sustainability of rail with intelligent first- and last-mile mobility solutions," said ROQIT CEO Pavan Chavali.

In the pilot phase, he said, the company is leveraging ETO Motors to power seamless parcel pick-up and delivery, ensuring a truly integrated, zero-emission movement of goods, he added.

As part of the project, ROQIT said it is developing a cloud-native mobile app offering complete door-to-door parcel service, with first- and last-mile connectivity enabled by partner fleet operators.

The platform replaces manual, paper-based processes with predictive scheduling, instant booking, digital payments, and real-time tracking. It also introduces a marketplace model that allows customers to choose logistics partners based on cost, speed, and sustainability, it added.

Freight accounts for as much as 70 per cent of the Indian Railways' revenue while the remaining 30 per cent comes from passenger transport, the company said.

At the same time, the light-to-medium-weight parcels, weighing up to 150 kg, make up less than 1 per cent of total traffic volume, far below developed markets where such parcel traffic accounts for 4-6 per cent, it added.

The network remains largely focused on bulk freight, with only 0.5-1 per cent of its capacity used for small to medium-sized parcel and package transport, compared to 6 per cent in Germany, the European Union 4-6 per cent and Japan or the United States 2-3 per cent, the company said.

ROQIT's AI-driven platform aims to bridge these efficiency gaps and unlock the untapped potential of lightweight to medium-weight small parcel logistics in India by creating a fully digital, customer-centric, and environmentally sustainable ecosystem, the company said.