As the world’s focus shifts Eastwards, experts believe that India’s logistics sector would grow at a rate of 15 to 20 per cent, creating huge job opportunities in the sector.
Speaking during a national conference titled ‘Vision in Global and Indian Logistics (Vigil) 2014’, organised by St Britto’s College of Art and Logistics here, former Union secretary of shipping M P Pinto said the logistics sector in India, which is now worth $100 billion, will be worth $385 billion by 2015 and the focus should be on creating warehousing facilities, a cold chain and centre of excellence for road transport to sustain the growth.
He highlighted that India loses `44,000 crore worth vegetables, fruits and food grains due to lack of cold chain. “India has the capacity of only 30 million tonnes of cold storage and it requires another 62 million tonnes,” the former bureaucrat said.
He also suggested a regulatory mechanism for road fleet management, besides mooting the idea for a centre of excellence for road transport.
He said, with the online retail and cash on delivery mechanism catching up in India there is a huge potential for logistics and huge opportunities for youth.
Former chairman of Shipping Corporation of India Sabyasachi Hajara said the logistics sector in India, which employs around 45 million, is set for rapid growth.
As India’s nominal GDP could grow from $1.8 trillion currently to $3.6 trillion by 2020, the overall export-import cargo at Indian ports is projected to increase to around 2,800 million metric tonnes (MMT) by 2020 from approximately 890 MMT now. He said the current economic loss due to poor logistics infrastructure is $45 billion, which is 4.3 per cent of the GDP and is expected to increase to $140 bn -- over 5 per cent of the GDP by 2020. The loss can be reduced significantly by making an integrated and coordinated approach and reducing India’s transport fuel requirement by 15 to 20 per cent, he said.
He also said the contribution of ports situated in TN and West Bengal is set to increase significantly. He said India is the second largest populated nation with 54 per cent of population below the age of 24. “They need to be groomed to pick seafaring as a career option,” he added.
Executive director of Ford India Tom Chackalackal, adjunct professor of Northern University of Malaysia Prof Dato Michael Tio, managing director of Shelka Marketing Services Salem Lakshmanan Ganapathi and MD of APL India Anil Radhakrishnan spoke.