The government is gearing up to enhance India’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) by briefing the World Bank about recent reforms and initiatives aimed at improving logistics efficiency, including the PM Gati Shakti scheme, according to an official statement.
Sumita Dawra, the Special Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), emphasized the need for an objective methodology for LPI scoring, as the World Bank’s current approach relies on perception surveys.
India aims to break into the top 25 countries in the LPI ranking by 2030. In the latest 2023 LPI, India stands at the 38th position out of 139 countries.
Dawra stated that DPIIT officials are in continuous engagement with World Bank officials to advocate for an objective methodology. The World Bank employs six parameters to measure countries’ performance, including customs, infrastructure, international shipments, logistics competence, tracking and tracing, and timelines.
Dawra added that a framework to assess India’s logistics costs is ready and will be released by the end of the month. India’s logistics costs are estimated to be 8-14% of the GDP.
She also mentioned that a service improvement group, formed in March to address logistics-related issues, has assessed 80 issues from various departments, with 34 already resolved. Among the remaining issues, 21 pertain to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), including matters related to ports, GST, and ICEGATE.
Additionally, 106 firms have signed non-disclosure agreements with the government to access data from the Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP), which was launched as part of the national logistics policy.
The commerce and industry ministry reported that during a recent Network Planning Group (NPG) meeting under the PM Gati Shakti program, six projects with a total project cost of Rs. 14,081 Crore were assessed, bringing the total number of projects assessed by NPG to 106, with a total value of about ₹11 Lakh Crore since the launch of the PM GatiShakti approach.
