Goyal asks ministries to work in coordination to cut logistics cost to 9 pc of GDP

Ministries of commerce, road, civil aviation and railways should work in coordination with an aim to cut the logistics cost to 9 per cent of GDP from the current 14 per cent, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said Thursday.

The commerce and industry minister made the remark while reviewing the draft National Logistics Policy and the proposed action plan for its implementation.

The draft was prepared in consultation with ministries of railways, road transport and highways, shipping and civil aviation.

Goyal directed the four ministries to work in coordination so that the 14 per cent logistics cost may be brought down to 9 per cent.

In the meeting, all aspects of logistics related to railways, civil aviation, shipping and inland waterways, road transport, rope ways warehousing and cold chain were discussed in detail, a commerce ministry statement said quoting Goyal.

High logistics cost impacts competitiveness of domestic goods in international markets.

Goyal also said that a central scheme for cold chain across the country especially for fruits, vegetables and perishables may be made part of the draft so as to improve efficiency and reduce losses in agriculture produce of farmers.

The minister directed that whenever any new road, railway, airport and shipping port project is considered, the logistics department must be a part of the consultation process so that holistic planning can be done.

India's logistics sector is highly defragmented and the aim is to reduce the logistics cost from the present 14 per cent of GDP to less than 10 per cent by 2022, it said.

It added that the logistics sector is very complex as it has over 20 government agencies, 40 PGAs (Partner Government Agencies), 37 export promotion councils, 500 certifications, and 10,000 commodities.

It also involves 200 shipping agencies, 36 logistics services, 129 inland container depots, 50 IT ecosystems and banks and insurance agencies.

The ministry is formulating the logistics policy to boost India's trade competitiveness, create more jobs, improve India's performance in global rankings and pave the way for the country to become a logistics hub.