The Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Guruprasad Mohapatra has said that the government will soon come out with a national master plan for providing multi-modal connectivity across the country with a view to reduce logistics cost and improve competitiveness of local manufacturing. He also said that all the infrastructure-related ministries including civil aviation, shipping, and railways have been given a timeline that by 2024, multi-modal connectivity of the global quality will be provided to various production centres in the country.
The proposal will go to the Cabinet and once it is approved, definite timelines will be given to infrastructure ministries for the plan. He said ‘we all are aware that India needs to do a lot for improving logistics in the country. He noted that one major initiative that is expected to be announced by the government soon is a national master plan for providing multi-modal connectivity all across the country wherever any economic activity is happening, could be an industrial cluster or industrial park.’
He added that the logistics division under the Department of Commerce is also working on a policy, wherein defined activities have been identified to reduce logistics cost and time. He said ‘I am sure that with these initiatives, you (industry) will see a lot of improvement in the logistics sector.’ He expressed hope that more and more compliance burden for the industry would be reduced in the next few months.