Industry body FICCI while welcoming the National Logistics Policy launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it has the potential to significantly reduce costs and improve industry competitiveness in consonance with the Gati Shakti programme.

The resultant unified policy environment, FICCI believes, would substantially strengthen the logistics sector through optimum inter-ministry coordination and deployment of resources.

Arun Chawla, DG, FICCI said that FICCI welcomes the National Logistics Policy that focuses on building an efficient multimodal transport mix, comprising 45% of freight movement by road, 40% by rail and 15% through coastal shipping and inland waterways is significant.

He further added that it will reduce costs and also help in creating jobs. 

“We believe that combining the strengths of different modes of transport, adopting technology, and digitisation will give a major fillip to the industry. The National Logistics Policy and the PM Gati Shakti would significantly help to reduce costs and augment competitiveness,” said President Sanjiv Mehta.

The logistics policy is aimed at bringing down the logistic costs and improving the competitiveness of domestic goods in the global market.

“With PM Gati Shakti significantly boosting the pace of infrastructure development in the country, it is an opportune time for an integrated tech-enabled approach to logistic operations to bridge efficiency gaps and improve industry competitiveness,” said Rizwan Soomar, Chairman of the FICCI Committee on Logistics.

India spends around 13 to 14 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on logistics costs. While countries like Germany and Japan, which are known for their developed logistics infrastructure and systems, spend just around eight to nine per cent of the GDP on logistics costs.

According to the World Bank Logistics Index of 2018, India is ranked 44th in logistics costs, far behind countries like the United States and China which are at the 14th and 26th positions, respectively.

“There is a connection between the launch of the National Logistics Policy and the release of cheetahs on the same day. We want our logistics to move at the same speed as the Cheetah. The country wants to move at the same fast speed,” Prime Minister Modi said at the launch event on the same day as he released cheetahs in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park.

The Prime Minister had called the new policy a solution for many problems and said that it would lead to improvements of “all our systems”.