Not Just Cheetahs, Real Game Changer Coming on PM Modi’s Birthday is National Logistics Policy

The cheetahs coming from Namibia could hog all the attention on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on Saturday (September 17). But the more significant event could be later that evening when Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveils the National Logistics Policy of the country that aims to reduce logistics cost to 8% of the GDP.

“This is a game changer for the logistics sector and the aim is to make India a logistics hub with enhanced economic activity and achieve global benchmarks by 2030," a top government official told News18.

The big aim is to reduce logistics cost from 13% at present to 8% and improvement in country’s Logistics Performance Index, which is targeted to be among top 25 countries and its global positioning. The government has done lots of homework on this over the past eight months, getting 14 states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to form their ‘State Logistics Policy’ and 11 more states are in the process of doing so with the drafts being ready, the official told News18.

“Taking forward the PM Gati Shakti ‘whole of government’ approach and to complement the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, the National Logistics Policy (NLP) will address the components of improving efficiency in services and human resource through streamlining processes, regulatory framework, skill development, mainstreaming logistics in higher education, adoption of suitable technologies," the official said.

The NLP will bring a holistic focus and lay down an “overarching interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral, multi-jurisdictional and comprehensive policy framework" for all sub-sectors in the ecosystem that are critical for efficient logistics.

WHAT WILL BE THE GAINS?

The logistics sector currently employs about 22 million people and the NLP will have a provision for investing in their skill development to ensure quality and efficiency in services.

The idea is to create a “pool of employable workforce", an official explained. Efforts will also be made towards creating a data driven decision support mechanism for an efficient logistics ecosystem and bringing together logistics sector stakeholders, from the government and private sector, to facilitate timely resolution of logistics issues in a coordinated manner.

“This will translate into enhanced economic activity, expanded markets. Greater integration of global value chains; higher share in global trade and making India as a logistics hub, besides facilitating accelerated economic growth in the country. With greater predictability, transparency and reliability, logistics cost will come down and wastages in supply chain will reduce. Ease of living will improve," a senior official explained. He said the new policy supports enhancing competitiveness of MSMEs and sectors such as agriculture and allied sectors, fast-moving consumer goods as well as electronics.

HOW WILL IT WORK?

To reduce logistics cost in the country, focus in the new policy is on reducing warehousing cost and improvements in reliability of supply chains, as per the details of the NLP accessed by News18.

“The focus will be on enabling adequate development of warehouses with optimal spatial planning, promotion of standards, digitization and automation across the logistics value chain. By promotion of digitalisation, better track and trace mechanisms and real time tracking of the inventory, the inventory management cost is expected to reduce. Logistics efficiency depends not only on infrastructure development, but also on development of human resources and services pertaining to digital systems and processes," an official said.

The policy will also set targets and lay down a clearly defined action agenda for different problem statements, including proposed solution and assignment of roles to the concerned ministries and states. “As part of the NLP, the focus would be on sector efficient logistics plans. For every major logistics sub-sector and user sectors, specific logistics plan will be formulated with a focus to enhance the logistics of that particular sector," a senior official explained about the NLP.

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