NEW DELHI: India improved its ranking in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index by jumping six places to 38 out of 139 countries in 2023 from the 44th slot in 2018. However, the government is not happy with the way the ranking is done as it doesn’t include many recent reforms undertaken by India such as the PM Gati Shakti, Unified Logistics Interface Platform, and Logistics Data Bank.
The World Bank’s ranking is based on six parameters — customs, infrastructure, internal shipment, logistics competence, tracking and tracing, and timelines. India believes the performance on these parameters is judged purely on the perception of a small sample of people in the freight business. “That is a very narrow way of ranking India on an important global index,” said an official.
The government has been pushing the World Bank to include more ‘objective’ parameters to reflect the reforms undertaken by India in the last couple of years in the logistics space. Sources told TNIE that Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary, Department of Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade (DPIIT), met World Bank officials during his visit to the US in June and presented India’s case for change in the ranking methodology.
India wants to improve rankings in logistics performance to break into the Top 25 by 2030. “Ever since the logistics policy has set the target of top 25 ranking, we have become more aware of meeting that target,” said the official.
The government also feels the need for developing an accurate estimate of the logistics cost in India. It does not agree with the 13% (of GDP) logistics cost estimate made by an international agency Armstrong & Armstrong. The government has already developed a long-term survey-based framework for logistics cost calculation, and the result of the same will be revealed soon.