Govt notifies National Logistics Policy

Infrastructure ministries including rail, highways, ports and steel, will have to prepare sector-specific plans to increase logistics efficiency in consultation with various stakeholders within six months, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) said on Thursday while notifying the national logistics policy which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month.

The policy has also called for integration of all logistics-related digital portals and IT solutions of key infrastructure ministries and revenue department, and the soft launch of the initiative called Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) to be facilitated within six months.

As per the policy, financial and fiscal incentives, through review of GST rates, and regulatory interventions to promote multimodal transportation, optimal modal mix, energy efficiency through adoption of technologies will be developed through the relevant line ministries and invoked when feasible and necessary.


“Targets for achieving the vision of the National Logistics Policy are to reduce cost of logistics in India to be comparable to global benchmarks by 2030; improve the Logistics Performance Index ranking - endeavor is to be among top 25 countries by 2030; and create data driven decision support mechanism for an efficient logistics ecosystem,” the DPIIT said.

The Sectoral Plans for Efficient Logistics (SPEL) will be aligned with PM GatiShakti and would address logistics issues pertaining to infrastructure, processes, digital improvements, policies and regulatory reforms, and capacity building for better workforce, and focus on optimization of modal mix.

At present, individual ministries have their respective overall long-term infrastructure plans such as National Rail plan, Bharatmala and Sagarmala.

The policy has suggested that the road transport and highways ministry can work on an action plan to develop strategies to address truck drivers’ shortage, their social security, digital system to monitor work and rest hours, trace cargo, reduce compliance burden on roads, and measure reliability of truck movement.