New indicators likely to be added for states' logistics ranking

New Delhi: In a move aimed at improving competitiveness of states on logistics, the government is likely to widen the ambit of the perception-based index of mobility of goods and efficiency of logistics chain.

The commerce department is considering adding new indicators such as rail and road connectivity, railway track and highway length, average speeds, performance of toll roads, and number and capacity of warehouse facilities to its Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) index, which is currently based on parameters such as infrastructure, services, safety of cargo, timeliness, track and trace.

“There is no point looking at states’ performance in isolation. The purpose of the ranking is to increase competition and improve performance. We are considering additional parameters,” said an official, who did not wish to be identified.


The first two editions of the LEADS index had ranked Gujarat number one. The state facilitation and coordination, and efficiency of regulatory processes, are also considered in the index at present.

NEW LOGISTICS INDICATORS

Centre mulls adding new indicators for states’ logistics ranking

Rail, road connectivity, warehousing capacity likely new parameters

LEADS index based on 9 indicators at present

Existing criteria include logistics infra, cargo delivery timeliness and safety

Commerce department wants to improve states’ performance

Average lead of cargo in rail, road connectivity and capacity is measured by the length of state highways, district roads, rural roads and warehousing capacity of Food Corporation of India, Central Warehousing Corporation and State Warehousing Corporation.

“We have floated a request for proposal for the same and will finalise the new indicators after the consultant’s report,” said the official.

The exercise comes amid the department developing an integrated logistics planning and performance monitoring tool to reduce transaction costs and support logistics infrastructure planning and track logistics performance in the country.

The aim is to reduce logistics cost in the country from 13-14% of the gross domestic product (GDP) at present to under 10% of the GDP. Currently, there is a lack of an integrated system of logistics, with different parts of the logistics value chain being managed by at least seven different union ministries.

The tool will determine areas and nature of inefficiencies in the logistics sector by helping companies chalk out plans to use different modes of transportation including rail, roads and water through live and interactive geo-data and maps. The data will be crowdsourced from different agencies including the private sector.