New Delhi, Apr 9 (KNN) Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry has appointed Ernst & Young to carry out the Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) survey for next three years.

In a letter dated April 7th to industry association, Pawan Kumar Agarwal, Special Secretary, Logistics said, ''Improving the country's logistics sector is important for the country's domestic as well as global competitiveness. States & Union Territories play an important role in this. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India has been carrying out the survey and bringing out LEADS Report every year.  In this regard, the Ministry has appointed Ernst & Young for this work for next three years.''

As part of this engagement, the Ernst & Young team is to undertake a pan-national survey covering various stakeholders including export/import firms, trading houses, freight forwarders, logistics service providers, terminal operators etc. This survey is mostly perception based but data points if any would also be collected during the process, it added.

Agarwal requested association to extend full support to the E&Y team by-facilitating them to reach out to the industry members by sharing a list of all associated members including state and city in which member is present along with the name and address of the firm, contact person's name, email id and phone.

He also requested to provide alternate email and phone numbers, preferably mobile numbers.

The Special Secretary also asked to disseminate information to association members regarding the context and objectives of the forthcoming survey in order to ensure maximum responsiveness and coordinate with them to ensure their participation in the survey.

Apart from these, the Secretary asked to facilitate meetings with association representatives to get valuable inputs or insights towards validation of key outcomes.

''I would request for your kind cooperation for this important initiative aimed at improving the performance of the logistics sector in the country,'' he said in the letter.