India’s own logistics cost index to improve efficiency

India will soon have its own logistics cost index (LCI) that will provide granular data expected to help investors and policymakers formulate projects and interventions in order to improve efficiency. According to officials in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), work on putting a framework for devising a logistics cost index is in the final stages and set for release very soon. Under the initiative, multiple indexed data will be provided to capture product-wise as well as region-wide logistics cost movement on a forthrightly or monthly basis on the lines of WPI and CPI, said official reports. In addition to the logistics cost index, an annual, all-encompassing, national logistics cost data based on Indian systems will also be brought out by DPIIT to provide a truer picture of costs involved in moving goods and services across the country.