India’s logistics sector, currently valued at $160 billion, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10% to $215 billion by 2022, as reported by General (Dr) V.K.Singh (retd.), Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways at a conference on the Logistics and Transport sector organised by the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport – India (CILT India) in association with Exhibitions India Group at the National Rail Museum in New Delhi on November 21-22.
The two-day conference and expo, which was supported by the Union Ministries of Commerce & Industry, Railways, Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, saw an august gathering of the industry’s veteran leaders and icons come together to speak on the established theme “Rediscovering India’s Logistic Sector: Efficiency, Costs & Technology.”
Inaugurating the expo, General Singh said, “The logistics sector has really been growing in India; it is presently pegged at $160 billion and expected to grow up to $215 billion in the next year-and-half. This growth, compatible with the way infrastructure is moving, will make a remarkable difference. The Government is making efforts to ensure that both the logistics sector, as well as the infrastructure sector, go side-by-side and grow. The need of the hour is to create more expressways and highways.
“Today, we have about 5.5 million kilometres of roads, and out of this, if we take the national highways, which carry 40% or more of the heavier loads, it is only 2.29% of this 5.5 million. And hence, the inference is that this needs to grow. The focus of the government is to ensure that we create more expressways and better highways-so that connectivity and the various corridors get linked in a shorter timeframe.”
Also, present on the occasion was Shri Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Member of the Rajya Sabha. He appreciated the great contribution made by the professionals in the transport and logistics sector to address the challenges that lie in the way of realising India’s true potential for growth. While addressing the audience, he said, “In this event, solutions available in the country and in the world will be showcased so that people can address the challenges of logistics”. He also spoke on how to optimize the use of the existing logistics infrastructure and work for global supply logistics.
The industry experts also called upon the stakeholders to come together and propose doable solutions in order to improve the industry.
There was also a distinguished panel hosting speakers from across the south east, who gave us a bird’s eye view of the significance and status of India’s relations with other countries and how it has progressed over the years. The need to focus on the international North South Corridor, that connects India to the European countries was touted to be a need of the hour while the progress of the bond that India shared with Bangladesh was a significant factor for growing friendship between the nations.
The panel discussions also focussed on the need to lessen in-transit losses and losses incurred during trans-shipment. The expo focussed on the nitty-gritty of the world of Logistics and how to overcome the hurdles that lie on the path to improvement.
The conference had hosted over 65 speakers spread across 9 sessions on an array of topics like Rediscovering India’s Logistics sector: Efficiency, costs & technology; Integrated National Logistics Policy, creating a platform for integrated logistics solution; Innovations and development in warehousing, packaging, cold chain, supply chain management, etc.
Talking about the conference, Shri Shanti Narayan, Chairman, CILT India expressed how the conference was organised to “provide an authentic platform to the captains and professionals of the logistics and transport industry to share their plans as well as concerns with the policymakers in the Government of India and sensitise them on the trends in the industry in India as well as globally.”
The CILT is an international professional body for all sectors of the logistics and transport industry. The India chapter of CILT was formed in 1987 and has more than 2000 practising professionals, besides 41 corporate organisations as its members.
