E-Paper
Blackbuck relocating within Bengaluru only, CEO Rajesh Yabaji clarifies after chaos
Blackbuck will not only continue to remain in Bengaluru, but also expand its footprint in the city where it was founded, CEO Rajesh Yabaji says.
Blackbuck is not moving out of Bengaluru, co-founder and CEO Rajesh Yabaji said on Thursday, refuting media reports that the logistics startup was considering moving out of the city over infrastructural woes.
“We will not only continue to remain in the city of Bengaluru, but will also expand our footprint here,” Yabaji said in a statement shared on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
Yabaji’s clarification comes days after he posted that Blackbuck was planning to move out its “office + home” in Bengaluru’s Bellandur area on the Outer Ring Road due to bad roads and traffic. “ORR (Bellandur) has been our ‘office + home’ for the last nine years. But it’s now very, very hard to continue here,” Yabaj said in a post on X on 16 September. “We have decided to move out.”
That triggered a chaos, and reignited conversation around Bengaluru’s inefficient infrastructure, so much so that industry veterans Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and T.V. Mohandas Pai called out the Karnataka government for its continued inaction on the matter. Such was the domino effect that city authorities have announced new traffic rules for Bengaluru ORR starting Friday.
“We are only relocating within the city to a different location, which will facilitate easy commute for our employees,” Yabaji said in the clarification issued on Thursday. “As we do this we want to reiterate that a large part of operations would continue to happen on the ORR, and hence we will continue to seek help from the concerned authorities to enable infrastructure improvements to facilitate smooth business operations.”
Blackbuck, formally known as Zinka Logistics Solutions Ltd., started its operations in 2015 from a small office near Sony Signal in Bengaluru’s Koramangla. Within a year, the logistics startup had moved to ORR for a larger office and better facilities.
“As one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Karnataka tech ecosystem over the last decade, we fully understand what the city of Bengaluru has helped us achieve and how it will be playing a major role in unlocking our potential ahead,” Yabaji said.
“Bengaluru is home for us, and as always, we continue to remain committed to relay our needs and issues to the relevant government authorities and seek support to get them resolved.”
