Small Cities, Big Spends: Eastern India’s Infrastructure Surge Fuels Delivery Dominance
Eastern India is fast emerging as one of the country's most promising last-mile delivery corridors, driven by large-scale infrastructure expansion, rising consumption in smaller cities, and increasing e-commerce penetration.The length of the national highways has increased from 91,000 km in FY'14 to 1,45,000 km by mid-2024, while India's rural road network now exceeds 7,33,000 km.
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Kolkata: Eastern India is fast emerging as one of the country's most promising last-mile delivery corridors, driven by large-scale infrastructure expansion, rising consumption in smaller cities and increasing e-commerce penetration, according to an industry report released on Friday.
The Express Industry Council of India (EICI), in its Express Industry in India 2025 study prepared with KPMG in India as knowledge partner, said the region is benefitting from rapid growth in national highways, improved rural connectivity and decentralised air cargo capacity developments that are reshaping logistics access across West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar.
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The length of the national highways has increased from 91,000 km in FY'14 to 1,45,000 km by mid-2024, while India's rural road network now exceeds 7,33,000 km."These transport upgrades are critical for improving delivery reach into deep rural and semi-urban Eastern India," the report noted.The expansion of regional airports is also boosting the corridor's logistics readiness. India has added 85 airports in the last decade, many in Tier II and Tier III cities, pushing the cargo share of non-metro airports from 18 per cent to 24 per cent.
The EICI report highlighted a sharp rise in shipment volumes from smaller cities, with Tier III locations now contributing 40 per cent of all e-commerce deliveries. Cities such as Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Siliguri and Patna are seeing heightened demand for faster last-mile execution, prompting increased use of hybrid delivery fleets, dark stores and micro-warehousing.
"Eastern India is poised to become a major engine of last-mile delivery growth. With stronger road and air networks, expanding Tier II and Tier III consumption and increasing e-commerce penetration, the region is entering a pivotal stage of logistics development," EICI CEO Vijay Kumar said.He added that the findings underscore the need for investments in freight-smart urban planning, multimodal logistics parks and technology integration to fully unlock the region's potential.
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