The focus on logistics was not only critical to improve quality of life but also offered an opportunity to foster the economy, said G. Raghuram, Director, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
Delivering the convocation address at Thiagarajar School of Management here on Saturday, Prof. Raghuram said logistics contributed 13% of the gross domestic product or ₹21 lakh crore. The logistics industry relied on five important factors - sustainability, warehousing, information communication technology, fragmentation and transport infrastructure.
India was ranked 35th globally in World Bank logistics performance index, bettering from its previous rank of 54. Though India’s position in ease of doing business had improved, under logistics indicator, it had worsened and moved to 146th rank from its previous standing of 143.
Though the average distance covered by lorries had improved in the country from 200 km a day to 350 km a day, it still lagged behind when compared to the average distance of 700 km a day in developed countries. The average turnaround time of wagons was higher in India with five-and-a- half days. Similarly, the average turnaround time of ships in the country was three-and-a-half days while it was only one day in international standards.
e-commerce in India, though largest, had not grown to the extent of the anticipation. Several factors like trust in terms of quality of product, returns policy, limitation in usage of apps and sites due to language issues and bias in Internet access to women in smaller towns and rural areas were major factors that slowed down e-commerce penetration, he added.
A total of 209 graduates for the year 2015-2017 - 108 from MBA programme and 101 from Post-Graduate Diploma in Management - received their degrees from Prof. Raghuram.