PMO holds meeting of secretaries on draft national logistics policy
The government wants to formulate the policy, as the sector's growth is critical to boosting exports and economic growth.
The Prime Minister's Office on Thursday held a meeting of secretaries to discuss the draft national logistics policy, which aims at promoting seamless movement of goods across the country and reducing high transaction cost of traders, an official said.
Secretaries from different departments, including commerce, steel, revenue, chemicals, and corporate affairs attended the meeting, the official added.
The draft national policy was floated by the logistics division of the commerce ministry. The ministry will give a presentation on the draft policy in the meeting.
The government wants to formulate the policy, as the sector's growth is critical to boosting exports and economic growth.
The cost of logistics for India is about 13-14 percent of its gross domestic product (which is over $2.5 trillion) and is far higher as compared to other countries. There is a target to reduce it to about 10 percent in the coming years.
High logistics cost impacts competitiveness of domestic goods in the international markets.
Logistics is a key component for increasing competitiveness of exporters and domestic traders by reducing transport cost and time, and expediting smooth movement of goods.
In February, the commerce ministry had floated a 23-page draft policy with an objective to create a single point of reference for all logistics and trade facilitation matters in the country, which will also function as a knowledge and information sharing platform.
It has suggested several steps, including creating a national logistics e-marketplace as a one-stop marketplace.
The draft policy is also aiming at simplification of documentation for exports/imports and drive transparency through digitisation of processes involving customs, regulatory, certification and compliance services; and creating a data and analytics centre to drive transparency and continuous monitoring of key logistics metrics.
Earlier in June, it was reported that the government will also come out with a national ecommerce policy within 12 months to facilitate achieving holistic growth of the sector, an official said.
(Edited by Suman Singh)
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