A Decade’s Observation – Logistics in India

We are observing a rapid growth of Indian logistics industry and it is a business game among several new service providers, technology and infrastructure that will determine whether the logistics industry is capable to assist its customers to reduce their logistics and transportation costs and provide efficient services or not? Regularly changing government policies especially on taxation and governance of service providers are going to play a lynchpin role in this methodology of cost reduction. In India, coordination across various government agencies requires a chain of approvals from multiple officials and ministries which is a big pain causing hurdle for multi-model logistics system. At the SME level, the Indian logistics aim is moving towards reducing the cycle times in order to inculcate value to their customers. Therefore, better practices and strategies are being adopted by companies in order to enhance their decision making process. This paper provides an outlook on these predicaments and issues with the help of primary research done on it; I have also outlined some of the major challenges with the help of secondary information referred from a number of journals, articles and testimonials, and I have suggested some interesting initiatives that some organizations are taking to compete through perfection in managing their logistics system. The methodology adopted in this paper includes an extensive research and review accompanied with the personal interaction and observations with the various logistics relevant organizations.