CII’s standardisation in logistics conference receives support from the industry leaders

May 04, 2019: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has organised a conference on Standardisation in Logistics 2019 - ‘A step Towards Accelerating Logistics Sector Growth’ in New Delhi.

Speaking at the conference, Anant Swarup, joint secretary - logistics, ministry of commerce and industry, the government of India, said, “The department of logistics is working towards reducing the cost of logistics and improving the performance index for the country. Standardisation in the industry is an important step towards that. Standardization was also part of the draft National logistics policy which the department released earlier. We look forward to working with CII and the industry to make this happen.”

Logistics sector is in an evolving phase with newer technologies being introduced to improve on efficiency and help in the reduction of costs. Although the industry is highly fragmented, with various regulatory changes by the government and the few organised 3PL players playing a significant role, the Indian logistics industry is accelerating like never before.

“The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the bridge between international and domestic standards. I am happy to see that the industry and CII are working towards bringing standards in logistics,” noted Surina Rajan, Director General of BIS.

In his theme address, Pirojshaw Sarkari, member CII National Committee on Logistics & CEO, Mahindra Logistics Ltd, commented, “The government has given a boost to the sector through infrastructure status and formation of the department of logistics. We took up standardisation in logistics last year as an important agenda. Standardisation needs to take place across the industry be it pallet or vehicle size, warehousing standards, contracting standards or facilities for drivers. The cost of logistics is relatively higher in our country than in comparable countries due to inefficiencies created by a lack of standardisation. The journey to common standards is not going to be easy. But I believe this is the way forward.”