According to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on September 13, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will announce the national logistics policy on September 17 in an effort to promote efficient transportation of commodities throughout the nation. The policy is anticipated to put a lot of emphasis on things like multi-modal transportation, digitization, and process re-engineering.
The administration had stated in the 2020 budget that the national logistics policy will shortly be released. The decision becomes significant since high logistical costs affect how competitively priced domestic goods are on the global market.
Reduction of logistics cost
“On September 17, the prime minister is going to release the country’s logistics policy,” Goyal said here while addressing the members of the Board of Trade. The government has emphasised on the need to reduce logistics cost in the country from the current levels of 13-14 per cent of GDP.
The commerce ministry claims that the industry is complicated, with over 20 government organisations, 40 PGAs (Partner Government Agencies), 37 export promotion councils, 500 certificates, over 10,000 items, and a market worth USD 160 billion. Additionally, it involves 50 IT ecosystems, banks, and insurance companies, together with
200 shipping companies, 36 logistics services, 129 inland container depots, 168 container freight stations, and 50 IT ecosystems.
According to the ministry, the sector supports the livelihoods of more than 22 million people and its improvement will enable a 10% reduction in indirect logistics costs, which will result in an increase of 5 to 8% in exports. The Indian logistics market is estimated to be valued around USD 200 billion.
