Believing the Budget 2019-20 as an ongoing task reiterating the commitments that the NDA Government has set in its vision document, S Ramakrishna, Chairman, FFFAI, says, “It is commendable the new Finance Minister presented a pragmatic Budget aiming to reach the US$ 5 trillion economy in the next few years, with required emphasis and focus on infrastructure, multimodal connectivity and logistics operation. Significantly, the government has decided to create and promote inland waterways and allied infrastructure to reduce logistics cost and boost greener environment.” It is heartening to note that after recently launched multimodal terminal at Varanasi, more similar terminals will be completed at Sahibganj and Haldia and a navigational lock will be created at Farakka by 2019-20 FY. We will be expecting more such terminals in North East India as well, like strengthening the existing terminal in Pandu (Guwahati) and new one in Jogighopa which is very strategic region from foreign trade’s perspective utilizing effective multimodal connectivity with special thrush on waterways. It would be very crucial to expedite international cargo movement to Bangladesh and beyond. Also, it is commendable the Finance Minister emphasized on resolving all litigations on fast track basis to facilitate trade and commerce. Commenting on the focus given by government to MSMEs, Ramakrishna, says, “Since predominantly we are from MSME sector, this funding would be a great boost for us.”

“India is set to become a $3 trillion economy this year and it is well within its capacity to reach the $5 trillion economy by 2024,” says Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister, Government of India, while presenting the annual Budget. The Budget says that the government will examine steps to hike FDI cap in aviation. Government envisions using river for cargo transportation which will also decongest roads and railways. “The movement of cargo on Ganga is estimated to rise four times in four years,” informs Sitharaman. GST processes will also get simplified further. The government has given massive push for physical infrastructure too. 125,000 km of road to be upgraded over next five years at a cost of Rs 802.5 billion. To ensure the creation of National Highways Grid of desirable capacity, comprehensive restructuring of National Highways Programme will be done. Railway infrastructure would need an investment of Rs 50 lakh crore between 2018 and 2030; PPP to be used to unleash faster development and delivery of passenger freight services, says Finance Minister. “Will simplify procedures, reduce red tape, make best use of tech,” says Sitharaman, in adding, “Building social infrastructure, digital India, Pollution-free India and Make in India are government vision.”

CMA CGM has started weekly service of a dedicated scheduled import train from Port Pipavav to Garhi Harsaru (NCR region), which it received on June 12. Operated by Gateway Rail Freight (GRFL), the import train, that connects Pipavav to Garhi, Ludhiana and Piyala, has a capacity of 180TEUs in a single run. The scheduled train service will provide reliable, safe and quick transport of commodities to the NCR region. The seamless transport and scheduled deliveries will help the trade to optimise their supply chain.

Only 17 out of 30 major product groups were in positive territory during May 2019 including electronic goods, organic & inorganic chemicals, drugs & pharma, RMG of all textiles, plastics & Linoleum, ceramic products & glassware, handicrafts, commodities besides a few plantation and agri products have shown positive growth during the month. Responding to moderate export growth of 3.93 per cent during May 2019, Ganesh Kumar Gupta, President, FIEO, said, “Such a growth in exports reflects extremely modest growth in global trade and increasing protectionism. MSME sectors are still facing the problem of liquidity besides various other challenges including uncertainties owing to tariff war, volatility in commodities/currencies, rapid rise in trade restrictive measures and constraints on the domestic front. Due to US-China trade war and developments in Iran has further aggravated the problem in the world economy. The uncertainty attached to it will also affect the flow of investment and add to currency volatility.”

IndiGo has appointed Globe Air Cargo Turkey, a subsidiary of ECS Group, as the General Sales Agent (GSA). The airline has just launched its cargo activities between Istanbul (IST) and New Delhi (DEL) via its new GSA. “IndiGo is an incredibly dynamic airline, and we are delighted to be able to contribute to its growth by representing the airline in Turkey. We are in total sync with IndiGo and, naturally, we will do all we can to develop the airline’s cargo revenue, via the interlinked network to which we belong,” said Nursel Guven, Managing Director, Globe Air Cargo Turkey.

The 9th edition of India Warehousing Show, underway at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, gained a good start through numerous product promotions and an increased number of footfalls this year. The summit was graced by N Sivasailam, Special Secretary (Logisitcs), Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Commenting on the National Logistics Policy, he says, “We are trying to integrate players at one platform through National Logistics Portal. A flavour of that is available, called PCS, to those who are dealing with the ports wherein we are trying to sort out the issues relating to transactional data protection.” The summit aims to cover pertinent interesting subjects of the industry, be it the building smart warehouses, the changing face of technology in a warehouse, skilled manpower deterrents, to name a few. The summit will conclude on June 22, 2019.

The 9th edition of India Warehousing Show, underway at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, gained a good start through numerous product promotions and an increased number of footfalls this year. The summit was graced by N Sivasailam, Special Secretary (Logisitcs), Department of Commerce, Ministry of commerce & Industry. Commenting on the National Logistics Policy, he says, “We are trying to integrate players at one platform through National Logistics Portal. A flavour of that is available, called PCS, to those who are dealing with the ports wherein we are trying to sort out the issues relating to transactional data protection.” The summit aims to cover pertinent interesting subjects of the industry, be it the building smart warehouses, the changing face of technology in a warehouse, skilled manpower deterrents, to name a few. The summit will conclude on June 22, 2019.

“Logistics and warehousing is a bright new spot on the Indian real estate heatmap. Infrastructure status, the multi-modal logistics park policy and implementation of GST has caused private equity firms to take greater interest in logistics and warehousing sector. Private equity funds altogether pumped in excess of US $1.1 billion in logistics and warehousing sectors between Q1 2017 to Q1 2019 as against zero investments during 2015 and 2016 combined,” according to the Anarock Capital release. The southern cities of Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad saw maximum interest by investors, followed by Mumbai and Pune. The logistics sector had a massive jump-start in the first quarter of 2019 when private equity players pumped in nearly US $200 million into cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune.

In a bid to bring transparency to the road freight marketplace, Rivigo has launched the National Freight Index (NFI). This first-of-its-kind barometer of the road freight market in India is based on a Rivigo rate exchange, which gives a live spot rate on over seven million lane and vehicle type combinations in the country. NFI offers an aggregated picture of both live rates and historical trends of spot price movements in the road freight industry. The index is represented in two main forms; in terms of actual freight rates condensed to INR per tonne-km and in terms of relative movement with respect to a base month. Gazal Kalra, Co-Founder, Rivigo, said, “In the existing logistics market structure, there are high inefficiencies due to information asymmetry, which leads to a great loss of value. NFI will enable unrestricted access and sharing of freight rate information. This will bring transparency in the market and propel the logistics sector towards efficiencies and growth.”

Spoton Logistics has announced the opening of a modern logistics hub in Chakan, near Pune –Nasik highway – NH60 with total sq feet area of 120,000 sq feet and 38 route vehicles. Designed to play a major role in Spoton operations in the region, the hub equipped with 23 bays, automated dock levelers, forklifts and other modern material handling equipment, offers storage capacity in excess of 650 tonnes and cross-docking facilities for simultaneous loading and unloading operations. “Located near Chakan, right next to Moshi, the new hub will help provide faster connections from Chakan, Talegoan, Ranjangoan, Hinjewadi, PCMC and other emerging locations nearby, for both inbound and outbound movement,” said, Abhik Mitra, CEO, Spoton Logistics.