India’s logistics costs had reduced from a range of 8.6% to 9.8% in 2013-14 to 7.8%-8.9% of GDP in 2021-22, as per a report by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) commissioned by the Commerce and Industry Ministry.
The estimate, which relied on National Accounts Statistics for data such as the output of transport services, storage and warehousing sectors, dispels earlier estimates that pegged the country’s logistics costs as high as 14% of GDP. These cost estimates will be refined and tracked regularly in the coming years.
“We intend to make this exercise more robust going forward with a primary survey to assess actual time and costs experienced by industry,” said Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
“This range is a ballpark estimate and must not be interpreted as the contribution of logistics to GDP in terms of income and job creation, but as an absolute cost measure used for cross-country comparison,” said NCAER professor Poonam Munjal.
Published - December 14, 2023 08:15 pm IST
