The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)’s premium event Logistics 2023 is being held at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi from 16th February to 18th February, as a part of the CII’s 25th International Engineering and Technology Fair (IETF). With the backdrop of India’s currently evolving and transforming supply chain sector, and the role it plays in the growth of the Indian economy, the CII has been organising this exclusive event since 1997. This year, the IETF was flagged off by Droupadi Murmu, Hon’ble President of India.
The 12th edition of the Logistics event is a gathering of various players from the supply chain sector offering end to end solutions to industry. Logistics 2023 is being hailed as an ideal platform for companies involved in Logistics, Supply Chain, Transportation, Shipping & Port, Material Handling, Warehousing & Storage Equipment, Consultancy and IT related business, to showcase on their products & service, latest trends and technologies to the industry and to strengthen their brand awareness to the stakeholders.
The first day of the show also featured a one-day Logistics Summit on the theme ‘New Growth Trajectory of Logistics in India. The inaugural session of the Summit saw Mr. Bharat Joshi (Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on Logistics, and CEO, J-Curve Ventures) give the Welcome Address and the Keynote Address was given by Mr. R Dinesh (President Designate CII, and Exec. Vice Chairman, TVS Supply Chain Solutions).
The highlight of the Inaugural Session was Ms. Sumita Dawra (Special Secretary Logistics Division, DPIIT, MoCI) addressing those present at the Summit. During her time on the stage, she spoke extensively about many crucial things that are furthering the development of the sunrise sector that India’s supply chain sector is. Ms. Dawra started by saying that the goal of becoming a USD 30 trillion economy by 2047 and the reformative plans in between that journey, like making India a manufacturing hub – all are going to be facilitated and enabled with greater logistics efficiency and lower logistics costs.
“Building infrastructure like roads, railways, airports, and ports; facilitating seamless logistics movement over multimodal transportation; and improving first and last mile connectivity – all of it is part of good infrastructure building and increasing logistics efficiency.”
Ms. Sumita Dawra (Special Secretary Logistics Division, DPIIT, MoCI)
She went on to say that a lower logistics cost is a necessary ingredient in the process of attracting investments into the sector and the country as a whole. The Gati Shakti National Master Plan and the National Logistics Policy were the central points of her address to the audience, wherein she talked about how the two are working individually as well as in tandem to ensure continuous infrastructure development and seamless movement of freight within as well as outside the country.
Next on the agenda of the Logistics Summit was the panel discussion on ‘Expanding Global Footprint’, which was moderated by Mr. R. Shankar (Member, CII National Committee on Logistics, and Exec. Director, TVS Supply Chain Solutions). The speakers in the panel included Anil Arora (Member, CII National Committee on Logistics, and Founder & MD, Aetos Digilog), Mr. Anil Ujwal (MD and Head Industrials and Logistics, DC Advisory), Mr. Devang Mankodi (Vice President Business Transformation, DP World) and Mr. Keku Bomi Gazder (Board Member, ACFI, and MD & CEO, Aviapro Logistics Services). The first panel discussed the importance of creating world-class infrastructure, enabling digital technologies and ensuring a safe operating environment.
The second panel discussion of the Summit was themed ‘Strengthening the Cooperative Spirit’ and was moderated by C.V. Kumar (Chief Executive Officer, CCI Logistics). Panel speakers included Dr. Sharmila Amin (Managing Director, Bertling Logistics), Mr. Ashok Gupta (Chairman and MD, IRC Supply Chain Solutions), Mr. Dushyant Arya (Director, Indo Arya Logistics), and Mr. Ranganathan Jagannathan (CEO, Pragati Group). This panel focussed on increasing cooperation among the stakeholders of logistics and supply chain sector and discussed how the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan is working towards enhancing logistics infrastructure and connectivity. An important point of discussion was the role of MSMEs in transforming the logistics sector on the back of emerging technologies and digitisation.
