Budget should focus on reducing logistics costs

Dhruv Agrawal, COO and Co-founder, Shipsy also shares his expectations from the upcoming budget 2023-2024 and says NLP will benefit the sector greatly. “The logistics and supply chain industry has long been challenged by the sector’s highly fragmented nature, multiple regulatory bodies, manual approval processes, poor shipment visibility, lack of stakeholder collaboration, growing cost leakages, rising logistics costs, and evolving customer expectations. The national logistics policy has been a significant step forward in mobilizing the power of digital transformation, particularly in providing platform to break down logistics silos. The upcoming budget would most likely move it forward by strengthening its foundation for its seamless implementation and reducing logistics costs. Besides, there is an urgent need to address climate change concerns through regulations. It would be excellent if the government allocates funds to develop policies that ensure sustainable logistics practices through digitization. The last-mile emissions per delivery in India are 285g CO2, higher than the global average of 204g CO2. Businesses can gradually reduce their carbon footprint by digitizing core logistics operations. This can be accomplished by shrinking the miles travelled per package and ensuring that the distance is covered using greener delivery modes. The thrust to expedite the development of multi-modal logistics parks will also be welcomed by the logistics industry, as it will facilitate lowering logistics costs and carbon emissions significantly. Emphasis on closing the digital skill gap in the logistics sector will also be beneficial.”