Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs Piyush Goyal said that with concerted efforts and the best possible use of the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan, it was possible to lower our logistics cost to 7-8% of GDP, one of the lowest in the world and increase India’s competitive edge in the global market.
He was addressing the concluding session of the “Webinar on PM GatiShakti: Creating Synergy for Accelerated Economic Growth”, organized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) from New Delhi, last evening.
Over 850 participants drawn centre and state government agencies, leading players from the private sector, academics and industry representatives came together to discuss and chart out the strategy for enhancing India’s logistics efficiency during the webinar.
Goyal lamented that for decades India had been held back by lack of infrastructure development. Infrastructure that got created was built in bits and pieces and there was an utter lack of coordination between the Center, States and Local Bodies which resulted in uneven development with gaps, he added.
He said that GatiShakti would help States and central bodies to plan utilities and infrastructure such as ports, electricity, water, internet connectivity, rail, road, common affluent treatment plants, packaging facilities and even skill development centers as per the needs of industrial clusters. He called upon all stakeholders to continually engage with GatiShakti and make the best possible use of its tremendous potential.
The Minister opined that fixing mistakes when it comes to infrastructure was very difficult and added that time delays often rendered the projects outdated and irrelevant. He said that the root cause of the problem was the huge difference between macro planning and micro implementation. Due to silos approach in decision-making, the budget was wasted and instead of infrastructure acting as a force multiplier, we often ended up losing value, he said.
