India’s big logistics plans explained: India aspires to be a globally top ranking international logistics hub, a major step in a move towards becoming a developed economy.

India’s logistics cost currently stands at 13-14% of GDP and the aim is to bring it to single digits by 2030.Why is it important for India to bring down its logistics cost to single digits and how do the National Logistics Policy - Gati Shakti National Master Plan fit into this objective? What will it take to make India an international standard logistics hub, and one that is ranked among the top 25 globally? In this week’s episode of TOI Business Bytes, Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, Senior Director - Global Head, Consulting - Transport, Logistics - Mobility, CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics talks about this in detail.India Eyes Top 25 Rank To Be Global Logistics Hub | National Logistics Policy, Gati Shakti ExplainedWatch the video above to know about how India has climbed the World Bank rankings on the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) to 38th rank and what it will take for it to be in the top 25.

According to Jagannarayan Padmanabhan it is important for India to establish multi modal hubs with connectivity between various transport modes.

While at present the maximum share of freight transportation is with roadways and then railways, there is a need for the share of railways to go above 50% and that of waterways to come up as well.Watch the video above as the CRISIL expert lists major sectors that will benefit from a seamless logistics system and why the right implementation of the National Logistics Policy is key to success and how investments will yield results over the period of the next few years.

Interestingly, the turnaround time at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port has come down to just 0.9 days, which is better than Singapore.Jagannarayan Padmanabhan also talks about some international benchmarks across countries like the United States, Singapore, Germany that India can take cues from.

For example, in Singapore the average customs clearance time is just 10-15 minutes and the US has a very robust system of highways.