India To Break In To Top 25 Logistics Ranking By 2030, Urges World Bank to Change Methodology Of Logistics Performance Index (Image: Pixabay)
The government of India wants the World Bank to reconsider how the multilateral organization ranks countries on Logistics Performance Index (LPI). India ranked 38 in 139 countries in 2023, which is a jump from the 44-th position of 2018.
This comes in the wake of India wanting to break into the top 25 ranking by 2030 in logistic performance. In June, the case of changing the methodology was presented to the World Bank by Indian officials. Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary, Department of Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade (DPIIT) who was part of the visit said, “ever since the logistics policy has set the target of top 25 ranking, we have become more aware of meeting that target,” the ET reported. The top three ranking countries are, Singapore, Finland and Denmark and the last three on this scale are, Somalia, Afghanistan and Libya.
The current LPI ranking does not include the interventions that the government of India has made to bring in improvements in logistics in the country. The recent big moves on logistics in India like PM Gati Shakti, Unified Logistics Interface Platform, and Logistics Data Bank does not find inclusion in the world bank tabulation, which the Indian government would want the World Bank to consider, the Indian Express said.
The world bank’s focus stays on six parameters – customs, infrastructure, internal shipment, logistics competence, tracking and tracing, and timelines. These parameters are based on only a small section which falls within the freight business and the government wants World Bank to expand into more on LPI.
On this, Sumita Dawra, Special Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), said “we feel this is a very narrow way of ranking India on an important global indices. There is a lot of work going on and that should also be reflected in how this calculation is done.” She added that, “We would want our ranking to improve and this would happen only if there is a realistic and factual reflection of the kind of reform which has happened here and the kind of work evidenced through various case studies,” and, “when we look at Gati Shatki, it is something that only India has done…We have made giant strides in improving the infrastructure for logistics this should be included in the calculation of the ranking,” the ET reported.
India is not in accord with international agency Armstrong & Armstrong’s 13% (of GDP) logistics cost estimate. Thus, as a part of developing an accurate estimate of the logistics cost in India, the government has already come up with a long term survey based framework for the tabulation of logistics, which would be revealed soon, reported the Indian Express. What India wants on this is, change which would be a standard for all countries, a methodology which is based on objective’s for LPI scoring and realistic and factual representation of the reforms which have been initiated, the ET said.
