The Government of India has prioritised developing a robust and cost-efficient logistics ecosystem. To fulfil this vision, the logistics division of DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry undertakes an annual “Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS)” survey in all States/ UTs to assess and suggest various improvements in logistics sector of the country.
The LEADS survey assesses viewpoints of various users and stakeholders across value chain (Shippers, Terminal Infrastructure Service Providers, Logistics Service Providers, Transporters and Government agencies) to understand the ‘enabler’ and ‘impediments’ to logistics ecosystem in the country. The annual survey, processes the data received from stakeholders (perception data) and States/ UTs (objective data) and ranks logistics ecosystem of each State/ UT using a statistical model.
In the annual LEADS Report for 2021, Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab held top three ranks among States respectively while Jammu Kashmir, Sikkim and Meghalaya were top three in North-eastern States and Himalayan UTs respectively.
The LEADS 2022 Survey was rolled out in April this year. More than 600 physical meetings were held facilitated by more than 20 National Associations and 75+ Regional Associations across the country. Their active participation has resulted in more than 6,000 responses being collected this year. The States/ UTs too actively participated and provided necessary data pertaining to the survey.
The LEADS 2022 survey further propels the transformative approach by of PM-Gati Shakti. It identifies issues and bottlenecks which need immediate action and can help synergize supply chain. The National Master Plan which is being developed in association with BISAG-N now has 900+ GIS layers and 612 essential layers integrated by the States/UTs. The States/UT of Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Goa have been leading in the process of integration of essential data layers. Institutional mechanism for PM GatiShakti, all 36 States/UTs have formed State Logistics Coordination Committee (SLCC), 34 States/ UTs have formed Network Planning Group (NPG) and 35 States/ UTs have formed Technical Support Unit (TSU). 14 States/ UTs have also formed logistics policy of which 3 States/UTs are in draft stage.
The LEADS 2022 survey, along with PM GatiShakti’s transformative approach, is to break the silos and improve the logistics efficiency of the country which will also reflect positively on international indices, such as Logistics Performance Index (LPI) conducted biennially by the World Bank.
The LEADS 2022 exercise is scheduled to be completed by the end of September 2022, which shall be followed by release of LEADS 2022 Report in October 2022.
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AD/MS/KP