Logistics policy will help lower transportation costs: India Inc

New Delhi: The National Logistics Policy launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday will ensure seamless movement of goods and significantly lower transportation costs, industry leaders said. The National Logistics Policy which is released by the Prime Minister will reduce our dependence upon road transport and will integrate the air, road, and water mode of transport to reduce the cost of logistics in India considerably and to make our domestic trade and international trade more economical eventually, said Sandeep Wadhwa, Chairman, Logistics Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"Also this policy aims to make the logistics industry more digitised for better integration and coordination with the trade, which will increase the ease of business and facilitate the trade and make India reach greater heights. It is a path-breaking move by the PM. And the Ministry of Commerce & Industry has worked tirelessly to make this happen," Wadhwa said.

Reacting on the new policy, Ashish Mohan Wig, Chairman, Gati Shakti Development Forum, PHDCCI, said, "Releasing Cheetah in the morning and releasing the National Logistics Policy in the evening can be indicative of how the nation wants logistics to move - at cheetah speed with integration of different modes of transport."

This policy has eight years of dedicated hard work. It is for systematic infra development. Bharatmala and Sagarmala are initiatives in this direction. Turnaround time of containers has been reduced from 44 hrs to 26 hours, Wig said.

The need for a national logistics policy was felt since the logistics cost in India is high as compared to other developed economies. It is imperative to reduce the logistics cost in India for improving the competitiveness of Indian goods both in domestic as well as export markets. Reduced logistics cost improves efficiency cutting across various sectors of the economy, encouraging value addition and enterprise, according to an official statement released after the launch of the National Logistics Policy by the prime minister.

Since 2014, the government has put significant emphasis on improving both, Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living. National Logistics Policy, a comprehensive effort to address issues of high cost and inefficiency by laying down an overarching interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral and multi-jurisdictional framework for the development of the entire logistics ecosystem, is yet another step in this direction. The policy is an endeavour to improve the competitiveness of Indian goods, enhance economic growth and increase employment opportunities.