Draft National Logistic Policy

News:Minister of Commerce and Industry has informed Lok Sabha about the Draft National Logistics policy.

Facts:

About Draft National Logistics policy:

• The Draft National Logistics policy has been prepared by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in consultation with the Ministries of Railways, Road Transport and Highways,Shipping and Civil Aviation.
• The aim of the policy is to reduce the logistics cost from the present 14% of GDP to less than 10% by 2022.
• The policy also aims at promoting seamless movement of goods across the country and reducing high transaction cost of traders.
• It also focuses on increasing the warehousing capacity and identify gaps that could be bridged to bring down the cost of logistics for traders. 
• The policy also envisages setting up of a central portal which will provide end-to-end logistics solutions to companies.The portal will be a single window marketplace to link all stakeholders. 
• The policy is also aimed at simplification of documentation for exports/ imports and drive transparency through digitisation of processes involving customs, in regulatory, certification and compliance services.

Additional information:

About India’s logistics sector: 

• The Indian logistics sector provides livelihood to more than 22 million people and improving the sector will facilitate 10 % decrease in indirect logistics cost leading to the growth of 5-8% in exports.
• The worth of Indian logistics market would be around USD 215 billion in the next two years compared to about USD 160 billion currently.
• However,India’s logistics sector is highly defragmented and complex with involvement of more than 20 government agencies,37 export promotion councils, 200 shipping agencies and 36 logistic services.