The Union Budget 2018: Where will Indian Logistics be heading?
Mumbai, February 5, 2018
The logistics sector gets the required impetus from the Union Budget 2018
The Indian Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, presented the fifth straight budget on 1st February 2018. While the focus was mainly on agriculture, the budget did address the rural sectors, new health insurance schemes and provided some income tax relief for the salaried class and senior citizens. The Logistics industry also received attention with several targeted incentives.
Citing infrastructure as an important growth driver of any economy, an amount of INR 1.48 lakh crore was allocated for Railways. In a statement targeting the development of rail networks across the country, the FM cited that capacity expansion shall be the priority. With a proposed target of doubling 18,000 km of lines and said gauge conversion underway to eliminate capacity constraints, measures will also be employed to enhance the capacity of rail networks. New world-class trains and dedicated freight corridors were being developed. The minister also pointed out that 600 stations have been earmarked for modernisation by the railways. Rail ministry is also working on an ambitious scheme to allow private operators to set up their own rail lines and run trains.
NextGen Airports for Bharat to boost airport capacity were underway. The latest budget supported impetus to aviation by encompassing airport capacity expansion by 5 times to handle 1 billion trips a year. The proposed improvement in the aviation sector is expected to affect the air cargo domain by providing the much needed infrastructure and space to cater to rising air cargo volumes.
The country’s exports are expected to grow by 15% during the current fiscal. Industry experts predict that 5% increase in exports is quite possible as buoyancy in commodities and crude will push value wise exports. In fact, in the mid-term review of the foreign trade policy in December 2017, the government doled out incentives worth INR 8,450 crore to boost exports and employment in labour intensive sectors that were hit by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) roll out.
Ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojana has been approved for providing seamless connectivity of interior and backward areas and borders of the country, to develop about 35000 kilometres in Phase-I, at an estimated cost of INR 5,35,000 crore.
Department of Commerce will be developing a National Logistics Portal as a single window online market place to link all stakeholders. It proposes to link all the seven Ministries, including Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Railways and Civil Aviation, to significantly benefit the logistics industry.
Speaking on the Union Budget for Logistics sector, Mr. Vipul Jain, Chairman, Kale Logistics Solutions said, “Since the last decade, logistics industry in India has been on a growth path, especially due to the mega push given to infrastructure spending to kick-start the economy. As per the ICRA report, the Indian logistics industry is bound to grow at the rate of 9-10% per annum. Union Budget 2018 has given clear indication for continued focus on new growth and development of businesses in India. This budget not only puts thrust on ease of doing business, but also gives the required boost to infrastructure with focus on technology” Kale Logistics Solutions is a trusted IT Logistics partner for Fortune 500 companies, offering a comprehensive suite of IT solutions for the logistics domain.
