Context: Recently, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry  launched a report titled “Logistics Cost in India: Assessment and Long-Term Framework’.

About Report: Logistics Cost in India Assessment and Long-Term Framework

• The report is  prepared by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) with guidance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) experts.
• Through this report, the government desires to:
  • Develop a scientific logistics cost calculation framework that is inclusive and stands the test of statistical and data-based methods.
  • To calculate credible logistics cost components estimates.
  • Data-based planning and policymaking.

Logistics Cost in India: Assessment and Long-Term Framework: Key Findings of Report

• Outlook: It pegs  India’s logistics cost in the range of 7.8- 8.9%.
• It presents a  baseline aggregated logistics cost estimate and a framework for long-term logistics cost calculation. 
• Data source: It uses secondary data from,
  • The Supply Use Tables
  • National Account Statistics of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) 
  • The NCAER’s 2019 study, “Analysis of India’s Logistics Costs”. 
• Recommendation: It recommends a hybrid approach using primary (covering all trade flows, product types, industry trends, Origin-Destination pairs, etc.) and secondary survey data, as well as real-time Big Data to provide an estimate of logistics cost.

News source: business standard