Over the years, the logistics sector has played the role of a backbone for the Indian economy. Supporting the growth of e-commerce and manufacturing, the logistics sector has seen robust growth in the past few years. The 2020 COVID pandemic proved the importance of this sector when everything came to a standstill. The evolution of the Indian logistics sector has been great but the US $250 billion industry still has to face many bottlenecks on a daily basis. Acknowledging the fact that any shortcomings in the industry will affect the other industries as well, the government has taken an initiative to make the logistics sector smooth, while taking forward the use of cleaner fuels. At the right time shortly, the pm Gati Shakti National Mater Plan (NMP) will serve as a booster for the development of the sector, focusing more on green logistics.
With almost 2.35 gigatonnes of carbon emissions in the year 2021, India ranks as the third-largest GHG emissions, due to which, the logistics sector is also becoming environment conscious and is working towards reducing the carbon footprints and switching to substitute fuels. Other than this, the government has introduced many new projects to promote green logistics like the Sagarmala Programme, NMP and GST reduction to name a few.
A network of roads will be created where they will be linked with the railway lines to feed into major and minor ports.
The logistics sector is growing with a great speed and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10-12 per cent to the US $ 380 billion by the year 2025. The logistics and supply chain costs account for 13-14 per cent of the GDP of India and this percentage is higher than most countries in the world. Therefore, Gati Shakti NMP was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October 2021, for boosting the multimodal connectivity and this will also improve the efficiency of infrastructure. The NMP is an approach to the economic and sustainable growth transformation of the nation which is driven by seven engines, which are airports, roads, waterways, mass transport, railways, infrastructure and logistics. The project with a value of 100 lakh crore will help in the faster implementation of projects for the development through technology that will lead to a smoother, efficient, and quicker delivery.
64% of the freight is still moved through the roads despite the inadequate road infrastructure. To improve this, a network of roads will be created where they will be linked with the railway lines to feed into major and minor ports under the Gati Shakti. The NMP has been planned to combine all the multimodal connectivity projects that will enhance the efficiency of the movement of people and goods. The emergence of alternative fuels can be a great opportunity for the logistics sector to ace. Currently, the poor infrastructure of CNG and LNG pumps makes it difficult for people to opt for cleaner fuel. The constant efforts by the government to promote the NG as the better transportation fuel is great as it will soon become a reliable choice because of the lower storage costs and lesser carbon emissions.
The government has taken an initiative to make the logistics sector smooth while taking forward the use of cleaner fuels.
Being one of the major sources of capital, FDI plays an important role in every sector like a developing country in India. There has been a series of economic downfalls for the nation but the initiatives by the government have helped to make the future bright. Green logistics can develop operations in terms of time, cost, reliability, transport infrastructure and more.
The global pandemic has generated the need for technological changes in various sectors including the logistics sector which is serving the economy at a large level. Looking at the ongoing carbon emissions, the government is focusing on encouraging the digital economy as well as moving forward with its decarbonising goals.
