New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil the national logistics policy on Saturday, September 17. First announced in Budget 2020, the policy is aimed at promoting seamless movement of goods across the country.
“On September 17, the prime minister is going to release the country’s logistics policy,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said while addressing the members of the Board of Trade. The policy is expected to focus on several areas such as process re-engineering, digitisation, and multi-modal transport.
The government has repeatedly emphasised on the need to bring down logistics costs in the country from the current levels of 13-14 per cent of GDP. According to the government, improving the sector will facilitate 10 per cent decrease in indirect cost leading to a 5 to 8 per cent rise in exports.
National logistics policy
The policy is expected to focus on areas including process re-engineering, digitisation, multi-modal transport, etc. According to experts, the move is significant because of the fact that high logistics cost brings down the competitiveness of domestic goods in the international market.
It is being brought in line with PM’s ambitious GatiShakti national master plan that was launched to build robust infrastructure, fill the missing gaps in logistics and draw more investments into the country.
“A National Logistics Policy will be released soon. Inter alia; it will clarify the roles of the Union government, state governments and key regulators. It will create a single-window e-logistics market and focus on the generation of employment, skills and making MSMEs competitive,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in the 2020-21 budget speech.
