Policy level improvement required to reduce transaction cost involved in logistics: AIMTC

New Delhi, Dec 24 (KNN) The Commerce Department is developing a ‘National Logistics Portal’ to bring all stakeholders in the logistics sector on board to cut down transaction cost and time for businesses.

The portal will help various infrastructure ministries and departments design their expansion plans better.

Giving details about the portal, Special Secretary, Logistics, and Commerce & Industry Ministry N Sivasailam said “Initial work on the portal is on and we are at the pre-request for proposal (RFP) stage.”

Sharing the views with KNN India on transaction cost involved in logistics, Secretary General of All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), Naveen Kumar Gupta said “As far as transportation cost is concerned, there is lot of inefficiencies in the eco-system which are to be tackled at policy level; only then there would be a significant impact on the reduction of logistics cost.”

He said already existing portals in private domain are a big failure as there was a lack of trust element between supplier and purchaser of the services.

Information sharing thing could be helpful but where it comes to transaction costs, he emphasized on policy level improvement for reducing transaction cost.

In order to develop and manage a portal on logistics, government will soon invite bids that will ease the transportation of goods across the country.

The portal will identify bottlenecks such as congestion at tolls and provide alternative routes to transport goods through railways, roadways or shipping with the commercial costs incurred for these by using data from e-Way bills, Ice-Gate and Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, among others.