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
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