The new division, headed by Ramesh Chandra Dubey, will focus on high value piecemeal traffic. The Railways through Concor want to get back this lucrative business from road. Concor's domestic business rose 6 per cent during 1999-2000 primarily due to 66 per cent growth in general piecemeal traffic.

Among the companies which are moving their goods through Concor are Nestle, Hindustan Zinc, Nalco, Nirma, Reliance and Hindustan Lever. While HLL and Nestle are moving consumer goods, Nalco uses Concor service for aluminium ingots, Hindustan Zinc for zinc ingots and Reliance for plastic products.

To consolidate position in the domestic business, Concor will be starting scheduled trains and set up more terminals. Concor was formed with primary function of moving containerised import-export cargo to the ports. At that time, domestic business was supposed to be a peripheral activity. However, in 1993-94, the railway undertaking started carrying cement which marked the beginning of its growth in the domestic container movement.

By 1996-97, share of cement in Concor's domestic business was as much as 74 per cent. However, in the following year, due to recession in the cement industry, its share fell to 40.5 per cent bringing Concor's domestic business down by 17 per cent.

With the Railways deciding itself to increase focus on cement, Concor is trying to move out of this segment. With the result that in 1998-99, cement's share in Concor's domestic business fell to 50 per cent. This also had an impact on its total domestic business which fell by 2 per cent. However, its new focus area of piecemeal traffic recorded a 80 per cent growth.

During the last financial year, though there was a 81 per cent decline in cement business, domestic business rose 6 per cent due to 66 per cent increase in piecemeal traffic. For the current year, Concor is targetting 65-80 per cent increase in piecemeal goods. Dubey's appointment as a director (domestic) is expected to strengthen the division. Prior to the present assignment, he was working with the Railways as director, Centre for Railway Information System, where he was responsible for giving shape to the computerised freight operations information system.