What’s in the news?

• The World Bank has released its 7th edition of Logistics Performance Index (LPI 2023). 

Highlights of the Index

• India has improved in the logistics ranking by jumping 6 places to Rank 38 out of 139 countries.
• On 4 out of 6 LPI indicators India has seen remarkable improvement on the back of various initiatives being implemented over the past few years.
• India was ranked 44th on the index in 2018 and has now climbed to 38th in the 2023 listing. India’s performance has drastically improved from 2014, when it was ranked 54th on the LPI.

Government Initiatives

• In 2021, the Government of India launched the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (PMGS-NMP) towards a coordinated approach, leveraging technology, for infrastructure planning and development. 
• PMGS envisages breaking silos among different Departments / Ministries in States / UTs by combining all relevant data on a National Master Plan and State Master Plans (portals) respectively. 
• It is a GIS based tool which integrates existing and proposed infrastructure initiatives of different Central Ministries, to ensure first and last-mile connectivity, for seamless movement of people and goods. 
• In 2022, the Government of India launched the National Logistics Policy (NLP) which acts as a guiding document for States / UTs seeking to formulate logistics policy (19 States / UTs have notified their logistics policy). 
• The policy is centred around upgradation and digitisation of logistics infrastructure & services. Further with focus on bringing efficiency in services (processes, digital systems, regulatory framework) and human resources, the policy puts marked emphasis on streamlining processes for seamless coordination, and reduction in overall logistics cost, besides incentivizing employment generation and skilling of the workforce. 
• The Government of India also invested in trade-related soft and hard infrastructure connecting port gateways on both coasts to the economic zones in hinterland.  
• National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) Logistics Data Bank project applies radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to containers and offers consignees end-to-end tracking of their supply chain. Its implementation started in 2016 on the Western part of India and was scaled up to Pan India level in 2020.  
• With such initiatives of transparency, visibility, and ease of doing business, there has been significant improvement in cross-border trade facilitation. 
• Also, the Logistics Data Bank project promotes healthy competition amongst the ports as it provides information on performance benchmarking, congestion, dwell time, speed, and transit time analysis. 
• At a sub-National level, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has been conducting LEADS (Logistics Ease Across Different States) study since 2018 which helps to identify and resolve logistics inefficiencies and improve trade facilitation across supply chains. 
• On a national level, India has notified Productivity Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for boost to creating global champions in manufacturing, PM Mitra Textile Parks, Bulk Drug Parks, other areas of manufacturing and 43 Towns of Export Excellence meticulously focusing on specific sectors for exports and provision of related infrastructure. 
• Further other initiatives like Sagarmala which aims to improve connectivity to ports and reduce cargo dwell time and Bharatmala which focussed on improving road connectivity of major corridors have played a pivotal role in improving India’s logistics efficiency. 

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1919925