High Tech Logistics Summit addresses key supply chain concerns of India’s high tech manufacturing industry

November 17, 2017: The inaugural edition of High Tech Logistics Summit organised by Indian Transport & Logistics News in Bengaluru ended on a high note. Over 80 delegates comprising mostly high-tech shippers, apart from logistics service providers, were in attendance.

Dr Suresh DN, chief operating officer, Supply Chain Management Centre, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, in his keynote address, highlighted the key trends and challenges in high tech supply chains.

In his opening remarks, P Anjani Kumar, Commissioner of Customs, Airport & Air cargo informed that Bengaluru Airport has the country’s lowest lead time with just three days for customs clearance. Keeping an open door policy, Kumar extended his support to the shippers by offering them to reach out to him directly for any issues and welcomed any suggestion or feedback from their end.

The first-panel discussion had speakers deliberate on the subject “Building an agile global supply chain for India’s high tech manufacturing sector”. Panel members Vikram Vohra, regional director-Asia Pacific, Saudia Cargo; Suresh DN, chief operating officer, Supply Chain Management Centre, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore; Yuvaraj AR, additional general manager, CMS Division, Bharat Electronics and Pramod Sant, vice president - head of Import Export and Export Control and Customs, Siemens pointed out key pain points in the supply chains and how things can work ahead seamlessly if there is collaboration between stakeholders. Topics such as the implementation of GST and its impact on the sector, the readiness of export infrastructure and logistics and infrastructure at gateway sea and airports were discussed at length.

This was followed by an interesting talk by Dr Sandeep Garg, president, India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) on building intelligence into the high-tech supply chain. He was then joined on a panel discussion with Rajiv Mukherjee, CEO and co-founder, IncubcateHub and Jagatpati Jha, director, JRP Freight Systems. The speakers discussed on digital supply chains and how blockchain and other innovative technologies could revolutionise the supply chain framework.

The last panel discussion on “The future of logistics and supply chain for the high-tech industry” had an interesting mix of speakers. This included Dev Arora, associate vice president, Procurement, Logistics & Supply Chain, Moser Baer; Raghavendra Swaroop, program manager, Service Ops, Service Logistics & Ops., APAC, Cisco Systems; Nishith Rastogi, chief executive officer and co-founder, Locus.sh and Ashish Gagan, regional head-South India II, Kuehne Nagel. The speakers spoke of how investment, awareness, education in the supply chain industry can make way for further growth.

The key sponsors for the event were Saudia Cargo and Kempegowda Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL). Industry associations namely Indian Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA) and Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) also extended their support to the event.