Federation of Freight Forwarders Association of India (FFFAI), in a letter to the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman stated, “If the exemption is not extended for next period, the trade will have to bear a huge cost which in turn will manifold and increase the logistic cost. The brief effect will be as below – 1.Export Air Freight – Services by way of transportation of goods by an aircraft from customs station of clearance in India to a place outside India – Tax rate shall be 18% – 2.Export Ocean Freight – Services by way of transportation of goods by a vessel from customs station of clearance in India to a place outside India – Tax rate shall be 5% 3.Input tax charged on goods (other than on ships, vessels including bulk carriers and tankers) used in supplying the service has not been taken (condition same as for Import freight services). After applicability of GST majority of import consignment are already being booked on CIF basis from abroad and a Indian freight companies who used to contract freight on behalf customer in India are already at the disadvantage since freight is not taxable abroad. The same is the case for Export with levy ability of 5% GST on Ocean Freight and 18% GST on Air Freight on Export consignments, the INCO Terms are likely to change from CIF to FOB. The Freight which is booked from India by Freight Forwarder will be taxable and such export freight booking will convert into INCO Terms FOB where Freight will be arranged to be paid in foreign country where there is no tax on freight. Multinational / Foreign freight forwarding companies will stand to …

Multimodal connectivity with the hinterland is one of the key focus areas which needs to be addressed in order to facilitate the seamless movement of cargo, said Piyush Srivastava, Senior Economic Advisor at the Ministry of Civil Aviation at an event organised by the Foundation for Aviation and Sustainable Tourism on Challenges and Opportunities for Air Cargo for the Decade Ahead today. He added, “We should also address sustainability as an important subject for both aviation and cargo. For this we need to have strong Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) ecosystem, aircraft manufacturing facilities and equipment, we also need to have leasing capability in the country. Another emerging area is cargo drones – which are set to grow exponentially in the coming years. To achieve this, the industry needs to move forward at fast speed keeping in mind changed consumer behaviour which has changed drastically in the last few years. That’s one of the biggest challenges. I feel, PM’s Gati Shakti Master Plan is the ultimate solution for all the issues and will definitely boost growth of the sector.”

With the National Master Plan for Multimodal connectivity in place, Ahmedabad-headquartered Adani Group is set to give momentum to its logistic business by commissioning six more multimodal logistics parks (MMLPs) in the next two years across five states, including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Telangana, says reports. “Adani Group is already operating as many as five MMLPs in different parts of the country. We are in the process to commission six more parks – two in Gujarat (Sanand and Ankleshwar), one each at Dadri in UP, Panipat in Haryana, near Rajasthan capital Jaipur and Hyderabad. PM Gati Shakti – Master Plan for Multimodal Connectivity would help us to implement these projects on fast-forward mode,” said Vikram Jaisinghani, managing director and CEO of Adani Logistics (ALL), in reports.

National Logistics Policy recently launched by the Hon’ble PM is beyond just being a paper policy. It is a call for action! Action by one & all for an India standing tall and taking its rightful place as the leading economic powerhouse of the World, shares Rajesh Lal, Honorary Treasurer, Warehousing Association of India (WAI). Beyond vision statement, objectives clearly stated, targets laid down, strategy identified to achieving targets, robust monitoring & co-ordination and a comprehensive implementation plan to key action areas, it is the openness approach to identifying problems faced, including within ministries, which truly sets NLP 2022 apart. NLP 2022 is not the end but means to an end. An underlying objective, the most critical one which needed to be addressed, is the stress laid on teamwork. It strives to create a framework for cohesive working where all stakeholders, including different ministries/departments, align themselves and work together, as one and not in silos. A single online portal (ULIP) seeks to ease doing business in logistics sector. Digital integration of different systems of seven different departments will be undertaken (IDS). The eagerness to hear in a transparent manner and address issues faced by user industry (E-LogS) is commendable. Service Improvement Group (SIG) is to be formed to monitor projects and resolve issues timely. A laudable target is to develop an action plan to address human resource challenges. Warehousing, identified as distinct for improvement, is a welcome step. It is capital intensive and with numerous issues faced, setup and operational, needs special focus for India to attract much needed private investment, improve overall efficiency and reduce costs. It is now for us to take inspiration from the clarion call by …

According to a recently published report by Allied Market Research, titled, “Warehousing and Distribution Logistics Market by End Use (Healthcare, Manufacturing, Aerospace, Telecommunication, Government and Public Utilities, Banking and Financial Services, Retail, Media and Entertainment, Trade and Transportation, and Others), rise in acceptance of multimodal transport system and surge in penetration of e-commerce tools across the globe will boost the growth of the global warehousing and distribution logistics market. Furthermore, breakthroughs in last-mile delivery mechanism in retail & e-commerce sector will boost the global market trends. Nevertheless, lack of control of logistics manufacturers on service delivery of logistics can impede the growth of the global market. The report also suggests, the global automotive Ethernet industry was estimated at $12,019 billion in 2021, and is set to reach $25,788.7 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 7.7% from 2022 to 2031.

Foundation for Aviation and Sustainable Tourism is all set to organise a seminar on Challenges and Opportunities for Air Cargo for the Decade Ahead today at the India International Center in Nee Delhi. The key topics of discussion will be timely solutions on the challenges of air cargo logistics can help India become a global cargo hub and digital innovation to boost air cargo growth. The dignitories include Lt. General K M Seth, former governor of Tripura and Chhattisgarh and President Foundation for Aviation and Sustainable Tourism, Chief Guest Dr V K Singh, Minister of State for Civil Aviation GoI and Guest of Honour Dushyant Chautala, Deputy CM, Govt of Haryana. The event will see presence of key air cargo industry stakeholders like Sanjeev Edward, CCO, DIAL, Keku Bomi Gazder, MD and CEO, Aviapro Logistics Services and Yashpal Sharma, President ACFI.

Commenting on no extension being granted on GST exemption notification, Yashpal Sharma, President, Air Cargo Forum India said, “We have been seeking from the government to make the extension of GST exemption notification perpetual. While the net impact on the industry is not much but the full process is painful for the industry stakeholders. If this was the case, then the industry should have been informed before. Everybody could have prepared well in time but suddenly, this has come as a shock to everyone. There is no point in first charging it and then getting it refunded. I feel it’s unnecessary and unrequired, if we talk about ease of doing business (eodb) then we should eliminate anything which does not bring value addition or any additional revenue to the industry.”

Requesting the finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman to further extend the GST exemption notification, Dr. A Sakthivel, President, Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) said, “The payment of GST on such high freight rates will affect the liquidity of the exporters to a large extent particularly as the interest rates have also increased with the recent hike by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The payment of GST on export freight and subsequent refund particularly through ITC mechanism comes with a time lag of 2-3 months or so, though refund through IGST mechanism is faster. Such a move will affect our agriculture exports the most as in many cases of export of fruits and vegetables, the air freight, at times, is much higher than the freight on board (FOB) value of exports. Therefore, exporters would be required to pay a very high GST amount on such freight adversely impacting the cash flow. I request the finance minister to extend the exemption for a further period to free the exporters from the hassle of securing additional funding. This may augment the liquidity of the Government but at the cost of the exporters. Since the cost of credit for the exporters is much high, an exemption will help the export sector to have better liquidity, which is the need of the hour. An early decision will be very much appreciated by the exporting community which is passing through a difficult phase and is likely to become further difficult in months to come.”

Pradhaan Air Express, India’s latest all-cargo airline, operated its first commercial flight earlier this week on the Delhi-Bombay-Delhi route. “It was a significant milestone in the journey of the youngest cargo airline in India as well as for the world’s first A320-P2F,” said a LinkedIn post. “We are confident of playing our part in the government’s vision of increasing air cargo to 10 million tonnes. The aircraft will offer charter capacity to Indian shippers and freight forwarders on domestic and international routes. It will be available for on-demand cargo charters,” the post added. The aircraft offers a payload of 21 tonnes with a fully palletised main deck.

Freight forwarder AIT Worldwide Logistics has entered into a Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) partnership with US-based cargo airline Kalitta Air to strengthen US and global supply chains. The strategic alliance continues AIT’s longstanding designation as a CRAF-sponsored freight forwarder, enabling the company to continue critical supply chain support for US Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) missions, while also increasing access to global routes, capacity, and charters for customers. Greg Weigel, AIT’s chief business officer said, “For more than 10 years, we’ve been proud and always at the ready to support USTRANSCOM through the CRAF programme. As AIT continues to grow our global footprint and scope, securing a CRAF partnership with an airline that has similar global reach, with some of the world’s largest cargo aircraft made perfect sense to our team—and that’s Kalitta.”