Industry associations should participate on the e-logs platform and deliberate their issues to help service investment group (SIG) address them on a fast track mode, an official statement said on Thursday.
This was suggested to the industry during a meeting of SIG on June 28. It was chaired by Sumita Dawra, the Special Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). During the meeting, major issues impacting the trade were resolved to the satisfaction of all the stakeholders, the DPIIT said. Under the national logistics policy, a new digital platform Ease of Logistics Services ( e-logs) has been started. Through this portal, industry associations can directly take up issues which are causing problems in their operations and performance with government agencies.
A complete system has also been put in place for the speedy resolution of such cases. “Industry associations should participate on the e-logs platform and deliberate their issues to help SIG address these issues on a fast track mode in line with the National Logistic Policy,” the department said in a statement. A bid to elicit pro-active participation of various business/industry associations, on one hand, and instil enormous confidence amongst them, on the other, was the topmost agenda of the SIG. During the meeting, new issues highlighted by the industry associations were deliberated threadbare in addition to the follow-up actions on issues raised in the previous meetings.
Meanwhile, a representative from the Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) in the meeting informed that the priority berthing charges levied by VPA on all vessels, which discouraged shipping lines calling at the port, are now being withdrawn with charges applicable to only those vessels opting for a priority berthing. “This investor-friendly initiative will have a direct impact on logistic cost and encourage the shipping lines to call Visakhapatnam port,” according to the statement. It added that additional issues related to the reduction of shipping costs and improving drafts at major ports for large-size vessel calls were also deliberated. “However, SIG emphasised the need for rationalisation of shipping cost at all major ports, which will enable them to be more competitive and economically viable thus reducing the logistic cost across the country,” it said.
Further, with major airport terminal operations being privatised, the emerging need for rationalisation of the cost was discussed with the representative from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Likewise, the consistent demand of the industry on their need for banks to accept the electronic bill of lading (E-way Bill) was an issue, which was also discussed to be resolved through appropriate authorities. As many as 29 industry/ business associations have been empanelled so far on the e-Log portal and provided with a user ID and password to directly flag their issues with the concerned line departments under different ministries for their expeditious resolution. The logistics policy was rolled out on September 17, 2022.
Enhancing stakeholder interface and thereby encouraging interoperability and identification of areas for intervention is one such framework of the policy, which is named the ‘Service Improvement Framework’. This involves the identification of issues hindering the growth of the sector, particularly of inter-ministerial nature, and resolving the same through appropriate intervention. These issues may be bottlenecks in processes and procedures hindering the ease of doing business and affecting logistic efficiency. It also involves deliberation of long-standing logistic-related issues, and suggests mechanisms to address complex processes, excessive documentation, the need for digitalisation and strengthening of the existing mechanism for user interaction.
It was in this context that the SIG was set up in the Logistics Division, DPIIT, with Special Secretary, Logistics, as its chairperson. SIG consists of nodal officers from 13 related ministries, including members from the Department of Revenue, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Department of Commerce and Niti Aayog. SIG interacts with the registered stakeholders through an enabling technological platform named ‘E Logs’, where logistics-related industry associations are given access for posting issues/ pain points requiring the SIG’s intervention.
Major industry associations like the Association of Multimodal Transport Operators of India (AMTOI), Container Shipping Lines Association (CSLA), Indian National Shipowners Association (INSA) and Federation of Indian Export Association (FIEO) are currently engaging with the SIG to redress the issues related to the trade. The objective of the E Logs Portal is to use technology platforms to improve good governance and stakeholder outreach in the logistics sector.
