What’s in the news?
● The Ministry of Commerce & Industry has released its 3rd edition of Logistics Ease
Across Different States (LEADS).
● The LEADS index ranks States and UTs on the efficiency of their logistics ecosystem.
● The index is based on indicators such as infrastructure, services, timelines,
traceability, competitiveness, security, operating environment and efficiency of
regulatory processes.
● The index uses objective parameters along with the perception-based indicators for
index formulation.

Highlights of the Index
● Gujarat retained the top slot, amongst 21 States, on the logistics index chart, an indicator
of the efficiency of logistical services necessary for promoting exports and economic
growth. Gujarat has been the top performer since 2018.
● Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra occupied the second, third, fourth and
fifth positions, respectively.
● Among the northeastern States and Himalayan Union Territories, Jammu Kashmir
topped the chart. Among Union Territories, Delhi got the top position.
● While the first version of the report, LEADS 2018, focused on export-import trade and
assessed the efficiency of the logistics ecosystem, the 2019 report covered both
international and domestic trade.
● The LEADS 2021 report has taken the effort further by helping identify problem areas
in the sector and prepare policy responses to deal with them. No ranking was
released last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
● The inputs given by the LEADS Report 2021 can lead the way to bring down logistics
cost by 5 per cent over the next 5 years from almost 14% now.

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/gujarat-once-again-tops-logistics-efficiency-i
ndex-of-states/article37381396.ece