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The central government’s United Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) is gaining popularity amongst companies.
Within just six months of its launch, the digital gateway for enabling a single point of access for various logistics-related datasets from various ministries and departments has attracted 480 companies.
Industry majors including Maruti Suzuki, DHL, Ultratech, TCIL, Jindal Stainless, Tata Steel, BOSCH, Total group, etc are onboard on ULIP to develop Apps that can benefit them and other stakeholders in the ecosystem.
As per government officials, the integration of ULIP with 33 systems of seven different ministries through 106 Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) covering over 1600 fields has been completed.
ULIP users with API-based integration can utilize the data for various activities and services like multi-modal track and trace, people and vehicle authentication, document digitalization, process automation at yards and gates, etc. This will lead to the reduction of the overall operational cost of logistics and save time.
VAHAN (know your vehicle data), SARATHI (driving license and permit details), and FASTAG (electronic toll collection) are the systems that have already been integrated with ULIP. Platforms of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Terminal Operating Systems (14 systems of ports), National Logistic Portal-Marine, and two systems of the Inland Waterways Authority of India of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways are also integrated with the platform.
Key logistics-related databases of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (Air Cargo Community System, Air Cargo Message Exchange System and AAI Air Cargo Logistics and Allied Services), Ministry of Railways (Freight Operations Information System), Ministry of Finance (Customs ICEGATE), Ministry of Commerce and Industry (DGFT IEC system, PM Gatishakti National Master Plan System), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Digilocker systems) and National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (Logistics Data Bank) are also integrated with ULIP platform.
ULIP is being used for its data services by the companies to build innovative solutions and Apps to optimize the utilization of technology, government officials informed.
“End-to-end supply chain of Ultratech cement requires tens of thousands of carrier vehicles every day across India which are being supplied by third-party transporters. By integrating with ULIP, Ultratech can now verify the compliance of all vehicles and drivers instantly. Intugine, a logistics-related technology service provider is using ULIP’s FASTAG API as the tracking tool for road transportation wherever there is no GPS device available. It has also created a planning tool for first mile/last mile movement of all rail bound cargo by utilizing ULIP’s railway’s cargo tracking API”, the official states.
Of the 480 companies that have registered on the platform so far, 284 use cases of 100 private companies have been verified. Over 76 companies have signed non-disclosure agreements with ULIP to gain access to the data sets for the development of Apps. More than 30 Apps have been developed by the industry players for providing better services to their end users by leveraging ULIP’s API integration, the official added.
ULIP, a part of the National Logistics Policy (NLP), was launched in September last year.
