The CILT India Expo was held on 22nd and 23rd November, 2018 at the National Rail Museum in Chanakyapuri, Delhi. Organised by the Charted Institute Of Logistics and Transport and Exhibitions India Group, the event focused explicitly on the logistics sector of India, which has been valued at $160 billion. The sector is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.5 per cent to reach about $215 billion by 2020. The expo brought together both the logistics and warehousing and cold chain sectors, to showcase latest trends and innovations from the industry including industrial enterprises, manufacturing, retail and e-commerce, logistics, construction, agribusiness, chemical, automotive, electronics, energy, pharmaceuticals, healthcare et al.
The expo covered the entire supply chain from point of origin to point of consumption of services. “Since transport and logistics touches every single industry, it is no longer simply about moving goods from point A to point B anymore. CILT India Expo 2018 aims to complement the government’s efforts to develop this sector in an integrated way, with focus on digitisation of processes, strengthen infrastructure through enhanced investment, skilling the youth to meet the needs of the industry, optimising transportation costs besides reengineering processes and procedures to enhance the ease of doing business,” said Shanti Narain, Chairman, CILT India.
On 22nd November, 2018, Suresh Prabhu, The Minister of Commerce and Industry said that the government is preparing an integrated logistics plan. The plan would include and utilize all means like rail, road, air and ship for the purpose of fast-tracking movement of good and cutting cost of logistics. While inaugurating the 4th PHD Air Cargo Summit-2018 in Delhi, Suresh Prabhu also said that “A new integrated logistics and air cargo policy would be announced ‘very soon’ in which every minute detail pertaining to logistics and cargo would be addressed keeping in view the interests of all stakeholders.”
Improving logistics sector has huge implication on exports; it is estimated that a 10 per cent decrease in indirect logistics cost can increase 5-8 per cent of exports. “Warehouse and logistics is one of the biggest growth areas that have emerged in recent times. We have seen Rs 125,000 crore invested through private equity in warehousing space since 2014. While it made up about 10 per cent of total PE investment in 2017, the share is expected to grow claiming larger share of investment,” JLL India CEO and Country Head Ramesh Nair said in an IBEF report. The report also stated that “It is estimated that Grade A and B warehousing stock will grow at a CAGR of 21 per cent year on year taking the total tally of warehouse space in India to 247 million sq ft by the end of 2020 almost doubling the current warehousing stock of 139.8 million sq ft in 2017.”
The highlights of the event were:
The expo brought stakeholders from the industry and provided them a great opportunity to network and build relations. Discussions on the global supply chain scenario and technological developments in the sector and their impact on the Indian logistics industry were held at the expo:
Sachin Bhanushali, CEO, GRFL, Ranbir Saran Das, Chairman & CEO, Ultra PRT UK, Dinesh Kumar, MD, Asia Aviation Associates, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Prof. of Transport Planning & Head, School of Planning & Architecture, were a part of the conference session on Multimodal Transportation.
Sandeep Kumar, Managing Parnter, Konnected Mindz and Murali Rajagopalan, MD-India, Mobilogix Inc spoke about Big Data Analytics and IoT in Logistics. Sanjay Swarup, Director, International Marketing & Operations, Container Corporation of India Ltd., Anant Swarup, Joint Secretary, Logistics, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India, Ashish Gupta, Regional Logistics Head, Shell India Markets Pvt. Ltd. spoke about the Integrated Logistics plan.
The visitors and the delegates included Warehouse, Supply Chain, Logistics, Commercial, Procurement and Plant Heads from various sectors like Automation & IT, Paper, printing & packaging, Petrochemical. Owners, CEOs, MDs, Directors, Presidents, VPs, GMs, Government Officials, Heads of Purchase & Procurement, and Consultants from Airline caterers, Bakery industry and other sectors.
“From hands-on policy makers in the supply chain and logistics industry to CEOs, COOs, Directors, heads of purchase and procurement, regulatory bodies, etc. are invited to attend the expo. It is a timely opportunity to unite a range of fragmented industries and start connecting the dots that could benefit everyone,” said Prem Behl, Chairman, Exhibitions India Group.
The logistics sector alone, directly and indirectly impacts 22 million people in the country & is a fast growing sector with great potential.
The event provided means towards accelerating the growth of logistics, warehousing and cold chain industries in the country; paving its way towards smoother supply chain facilities.
