National Logistics Policy 2022

 

National Logistics Policy 2022

Vision

“To develop a technologically enabled, integrated, cost-efficient, resilient, sustainable and trusted logistics ecosystem in the country for accelerated and inclusive growth.” 

About:

On September 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the National Logistics Policy (NLP), to bring forth revolutionary changes in the nation’s logistics aiding commerce and trade. The government intends to work the NLP policy in tandem with PM Gati Shakti – National Master Plan, to bridge the alarming gap in India’s trade competitiveness.

 

What’s the need for NLP?

India is the 5^th largest economy in the world, and one of the fastest growing economies and we know that efficient logistics support enables resilient and inclusive growth. So far, when India is concerned, the current logistics cost is estimated to be roughly 14% of our GDP, which is nearly double compared to developed economies averaging 8% of their GDP.

This has pulled down India’s competitiveness gap by a whopping $180 billion and this very much gets reflected in India’s Logistic Performance Index globally. In 2018, India’s rank was 44, dropping from 35 in 2016; wherein India scored less in all the 6 parameters, which are— Customs, Infrastructure, International Shipments, Logistics Competence, Tracking & tracing and Timeliness. The policy further sets the goal of improving India’s ranking in the Logistics Performance Index to be in the top 25 countries by 2030

 

The National Logistics Policy

Logistics can be defined as the “art of managing the flow of goods and services from source to user.” A broad term that refers to the planning, implementation, and management of the movement of goods and services from a point of origin to a point of consumption.

This policy will focus on some key areas such as process re-engineering, digitisation, and multi-modal transport. It is a crucial move as high logistics cost impacts the competitiveness of domestic goods in the international market.

Reduced logistics cost aims to improve efficiency cutting across various sectors of the economy, enabling value addition and enterprise. It said that the policy is an 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.

 

    Major features of NLP

Ø                                Integration of Digital System (IDS): 

·   30 different systems of seven different departments will be integrated digitally including the road transport, railway, customs, aviation, foreign trade and commerce ministries.

·       It will improve shorter cargo movement.

 

Ø                             Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP): 

·   Bringing all the digital services related to the transportation sector into a single portal.

·    It consists of 3 components: Integration of data sources from ministries; Data exchange with private players; Unified document reference in the supply chain. Coalescing real time information and data under a single platform makes the processes easier, more effective and transparent.

 

Ø                             Ease of Logistics (ELOG): 

·   A new policy will be implemented to simplify the rules and ease the logistics business. It facilitates EXIM logistics by bringing service seekers and service providers on a single platform.

 

Ø                             System Improvement Group (SIG): 

·       Monitoring all logistics-related projects regularly and tackling all obstacles.

 

How can NLP be a Game Changer?

The National Logistics Policy has been envisioned to progress in tandem with other major policies and projects of the government. The PM Gati Shakti Programme – aims to improve rails and road connectivity. The Bharatmala project focuses on connecting industrial corridors and promoting road traffic between major trade and production cities and towns.  The Sagarmala project envisions improving the capacity building of our ports, inland waterways etc.

Further, with the implementation of advanced technologies is the key. We can increase the adoption of paperless transactions in EXIM trade by e-Sanchit portal, bring in faceless evaluation at customs. E-way bills, FASTags, GST etc. are already in use to ease the complexity in the logistics sector.

We aim to be a crucial player in the world and registering our mark as a $5 Trillion economy by 2024-25 is the keystone for our ‘Make in India’ policy. To achieve that connectivity and infrastructure are crucial to effectively tap and boost our potential to bring in enormous improvements in the agriculture, industries, cold-storage, manufacturing, and export-import sectors of India.