The Indian government has recently rolled out new initiatives that aim to enhance the Ease-of-Doing Business in the country. These include the Secured Logistics Document Exchange (SLDE) and a Calculator for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions. As per the 2020 World Bank’s Ease-of-Doing Business Report, India found its place on the 63rd rank out of 190 countries. This article explores these efforts, the rationale behind them, and potential impact.
Introduction to the Secured Logistics Document Exchange (SLDE)
The SLDE platform emerged as a replacement for the current manual process of generating, exchanging, and complying with logistics documents. This digitized system offers seamless document exchange, bolstered by Aadhaar and blockchain-based security protocols for data security and authentication. It supports the digital generation, storage, and interchange of logistics-related documents. The platform also enables an exhaustive audit trail of document transfers, expedites transactions, reduces shipping costs and the overall carbon footprint, simplifies document authenticity verification, and minimizes fraud risk.
Understanding the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission Calculator
The GHG calculator projects as an efficient and easy-to-use tool designed to calculate and compare GHG emissions across different modes. The tool allows users to make commodity-wise comparisons of GHG emissions and the total cost of transportation, including their environmental costs, between road and rail movements. It is intended to assist stakeholders in making suitable modal choices.
Potential Benefits and Targets
The implementation of these initiatives is anticipated to enhance logistics efficiency, reduce costs, and promote sustainability. They are also expected to bridge gaps not yet addressed by private players or any ministry. Additionally, these initiatives are likely to help India achieve improved rankings in the Logistics Performance Index (LPI), reduce logistics costs, and establish specific metrics for continual improvement in logistics. In 2018, India secured the 44th rank on the LPI.
Related Initiatives and Developments
The government’s efforts are not limited to these initiatives alone. Other related developments include the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), which is exclusively meant for high-speed and high-capacity freight transportation. The National Logistics Law 2020 aims to streamline the country’s logistics ecosystem to further growth and enhance export competitiveness. Another noteworthy event was Logix India 2019, organized by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) to improve logistics cost-effectiveness and operational efficiencies.
In addition, projects like the Multimodal Logistic Park aim to reduce trade costs by 10% and have an annual cargo capacity of 13 million metric tons. Furthermore, there are efforts to fast track freight in India to make goods transport more cost-effective and reduce the country’s logistics costs. The Port Community System ‘PCS1x’ platform is another initiative that has the potential to revolutionize maritime trade in India, align it with global best practices, and improve Ease of Doing Business world ranking and LPI ranks.
