Govt urges pvt sector to join hands in lowering logistics cost

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The National Logistics Excellence Awards were instituted by the Indian Government to encourage innovative logistics service providers in the country. The first ever edition of this award was hosted on June 23 presided by Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal. The Union Minister appreciated the resilient and efficient supply chains developed by the operators in the logistics sector that helped the country overcome challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and boost our exports.

Piyush Goyal nevertheless urged the industry to join government efforts to bring down logistics costs from 12-14% to 7-8% similar to what is found in developed countries. For the industry to be transparent and efficient, the union minister urged the industry to involve more start-ups.

India’s leap in Logistics sector

A 10 percent decrease in indirect logistics cost has the potential to increase exports by 5-8 per cent. The Government through the PM Gati Shakti – National Master Plan digital platform brought together 16 ministries for coordinating on infrastructure creation. This helped in efficient planning and implementation, thereby ensuring that last-mile connectivity related issues are not there, thus increasing our exports.

The increased infrastructure spending from Rs. 2.5 lakh crore to Rs. 7.5 lakh crore and Gati Shakti will benefit the logistics sector most with investment across roads, highways, ports, airports, multi-modal terminals etc.

Another flagship program, Bharatmala Pariyojana, changed the basis of national highways construction from ‘point to point connectivity’ to freight logistics, port connectivity etc. Recently India witnessed how our improved logistics has helped in increasing the allure of our wheat exports through cost control. . Infrastructure development initiatives like Sagarmala and Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) amongst others are under different stages of implementation

Besides the Logistics Excellence Awards, the government also releases a Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) report that measures and appreciates the endeavours of the State Governments. Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab have emerged as the top performers in the LEADS 2021 index