Govt infra initiatives to slash India's logistics costs: Piyush Goyal

Goyal was speaking at a one-day workshop on ‘Logistics Cost Framework’ organised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), ministry of commerce and industry, in partnership with Asian Development Bank (ADB) in New Delhi, India. He suggested taking note of India’s geography, terrain, size and complexities, trade volume, and value while calculating the logistics cost, according to a press release by India’s ministry of commerce and industry.

The Union minister of commerce and industry, textiles, consumer affairs, food and public distribution shared that in the last nine years, from being the tenth largest country in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), India has now become the fifth largest country in the world. India will become the third largest country in the coming 2-3 years, through the infrastructure projects that are going to be implemented from April 2023 to March 2024.

Goyal added that e-commerce, smarter free trade agreements (FTAs), adopting international quality standards, good manufacturing practices, leveraging India’s successful startups ecosystem, and other factors will work towards catalysing India’s development.

While sharing his opinion in his opening remarks, DPIIT secretary Anurag Jain said that in just four years, India’s infrastructure has improved by leaps and bounds. He also shared how PM GatiShakti NMP has revolutionised the planning process through digital surveys.

Sumita Dawra, special secretary, logistics division, DPIIT, acknowledged the approach and methodologies presented by the international and Indian experts. She also mentioned that as an outcome of the workshop, a task force including members from NITI Aayog, ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MOSPI), National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), academic experts, and other stakeholders will be established for formulating a logistics cost framework in a time-bound fashion.

In the workshop, views were presented on the importance of logistics cost calculation, as India enters a potential period of sustained growth and development. Academics presented existing global frameworks and models for the calculation of logistics costs.

The key speakers on the significant aspect of logistics cost assessment in the workshop were professors and academicians from Japan, Thailand, Korea, as well as industry experts. During the workshop it was discussed that there is a need for diagnosis regarding logistics cost in India, that includes among other aspects, parameters such as optimal transportation modal mix, packaging, warehousing and storage, and other administrative and indirect costs. A new possible approach for calculating estimates through technology driven secondary data sources such as the E-Way Bill and Fastag data needs to be explored.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)