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The National Logistics Policy (NLP) was unveiled by the Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi in New Delhi, in the presence of Sh. Nitin Gadkari (Minister of Road Transport and Highways), Sh. Ashwani Vaishnaw (Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information), Sh. Piyush Goyal (Minister of Textiles, Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, and Food & Public Distribution), Sh. Sarbananda Sonowal (Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, and AYUSH), Sh. Dharmendra Pradhan (Minister of Education and Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship), Sh. Jyotiraditya Scindia (Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel), and Sh. Som Prakash (Minister of State for Commerce and Industry). The event was also attended by a large group of stakeholders from Indian logistics and supply chain sector, as well as policy makers.
“The National Logistics Policy will act as a double engine with PM Gati Shakti National Masterplan. I laud the Prime Minister’s holistic approach towards development which resulted in a reduction of information silos, joining all Ministries and Departments.”
Sh. Piyush Goyal (Minister of Textiles, Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, and Food & Public Distribution)
He also said infrastructural development is the sure path to complete overall development, and technology and innovation play a major role in that journey. Unified Logistics Integrated Portal is a step in that direction which is an integrated portal to help know the status and location of the cargo.
The NLP is being said to have been made after extensive stakeholder consultation and its implementation will lead to reduced logistics cost, international trade will increase, thereby, increasing prosperity and promoting startups, among other benefits, eventually making India ‘atmanirbhar‘. It will make Indian logistics sector at par with global benchmarks.
The National Logistics Policy will aim at the following goals –
- Seamless stakeholder coordination
- Improved manufacturing competitiveness
- Promotion of MSMEs and agricultural produce, leading to global competitiveness
- Make India one of the top 25 logistics performance countries
- Lower logistics cost percentage to global benchmarks
To achieve the aforesaid goals, the NLP will focus on parameters like –
- Modern Warehousing
- World Class Infrastructural development
- Digitisation
- Regulations
- Trace and Track
- Ease of arranging shipment
- Timeliness
Major economic sectors like coal, steel, fertilisers, food grain, cement and port connectivity, will receive sector specific logistics plans.
ULIP and Ease of Doing Business will be promoted under the Policy. To increase the logistics efficiency in the country, the Government of India – both Central as well as State – will play a major role. LEADS Survey was also mentioned and it is said that the Policy is based on the feeling of cooperative federalism.
An e-Handbook has also been developed in order to promote standardisation of warehousing market to give it a world class transformation. The Policy also talks about Ease of Logistics Services (E-LOGS) Portal. Using this portal, the Inter-Ministry Services Improvement Group will try to resolve any issues hindering operations and performance of the stakeholders.
The PM Gati Shakti Portal will digitise the information related to all infra development projects of Central and State, equivalent to 1500 layers of data. The information will result in improved planning, speeding up of clearances, and reduction in infra gaps.
Due to COVID-19, lack of skilled manpower in supply chain sector adversely impacted it. To avoid the same in future, various courses related to the logistics and supply chain sector will be introduced at graduation and post graduation levels. Various organisations will also work on skill development for better domestic and international employability among the workforce.
“We want packages to move at the speed of a cheetah. Indian manufacturing is making its place in the world. In such a case, NLP will give a new energy to every sector of the economy. A policy is not the end, but the means to the end. Policy plus Performance will be equal to Progress, which is why, after the policy has been released, the responsibility of performance by the stakeholders as well as the government increases manifold. NLP will act as driving and guiding force. NLP is the result of perspiration of 8 years backed by infra development over the years.”
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
PM Modi said that many reforms have been taken with in order to make India a logistics hub since 2003 to improve logistics connectivity and bring systematic infrastructural development.
- Sagarmala, Bharatmala and DFCs were implemented. Total capacity of Indian ports has increased and container turnaround time has decreased from 44 hours to 36 hours.
- Waterways are being promoted for cost effective and eco-freindly transportation, and new waterways have been created.
- For facilitating exports, almost 40 air cargo terminals have been created across India, 30 airports have been equipped with cold storage facilities and 60 airports are operating Krishi UDAN.
- Development of 35 MMLPs throughout India.
- Kisan Rail and Kisan UDAN were launched to connect farmers to main markets of the country and beyond.
- Various initiatives and reforms have been put in place to boost the ease of export import activity and simplify customs processes, for instance, e-Sanchit, faceless assessment and eWay Bills.
He said that drones were used to transport essentials during COVID-19, the drone policies were reformed and PLI scheme was introduced for manufacturers, in order to promote drone transportation. He added that drone transportation will be a major segment in logistics sector.
“We are at a takeoff stage. With these reforms and initiatives, we need to come together to take-off. This will give a big boost to the infrastructure development in logistics sector.” said Modi.
According to the Prime Minister, reducing logistics cost from 13-14% to the lowest possible single digit number is a low hanging fruit and quite achievable with the collective efforts of government and industry stakeholders.
