Logistics and Warehousing: Reduce bottlenecks

Hindsight: 2013 has been a mixed year for the infrastructure sector which, on one hand, saw a slew of government initiatives:

• Road regulator, facilitating faster completion of road projects, faster transportation, decreased fuel consumption, and encouraged development of access-controlled expressways
• Allocation of Rs 5,000 crore for agristorage facilities to Nabard has boosted the warehousing sector in a limited way

Forword Look: However, more pragmatic policies are needed:

• Nodal cross-ministerial logistics body to accord wider transportation and logistics (T&L) industry ´infrastructure´ status
• Separate regulator for better coordination between ministries
• Bring service tax on domestic sea transport and domestic air cargo movement at par with road and rail
• Simplify documentation and information flow
• Provisions for greater FDI in logistics infrastructure development
• Exempt capital imports on supply chain equipment from taxes, boost warehousing, back-end processing and cold chains. Treatment of non-agricultural warehousing at par with infrastructure.
• Introduce centralised toll mechanism

Vineet Agarwal, Jt MD, TCI