E-Paper
Logistics cost at 8% of GDP, below external estimates
India's logistics costs are 7.97% of GDP, much lower than the 13-14% previously stated, reveals a government report marking 'Make in India' decade.
India’s logistics costs stand at 7.97% of GDP, significantly below the 13-14% cited by external agencies, according to a government assessment released on Saturday.
Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal unveiled the findings during celebrations marking a decade of the ‘Make in India’ initiative, which described previous estimates as “misrepresented” and based on “partial datasets”.
The Assessment of Logistics Cost in India, prepared by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) for the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, represents the country’s first scientifically derived estimate using a hybrid methodology combining secondary data with nationwide surveys. NCAER, founded in 1956 as a public-private partnership, was commissioned to address the research gap.
“Until now, logistics costs in India were often misrepresented, with commonly cited figures of 13-14% of GDP derived from external studies or partial datasets. This led to inconsistent estimates, causing confusion among policymakers and global stakeholders,” the commerce ministry said.
The study fulfils a mandate from the National Logistics Policy (2022) to establish uniform frameworks for measuring logistics costs against global benchmarks.
Goyal also unveiled a commemorative coin marking the completion of 10 years since Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Make in India on September 25, 2014. The initiative aimed to transform India into a global manufacturing, design and innovation hub.
“Today, as we commemorate a decade of this journey, we reaffirm India’s strength as a resilient, self-reliant, and globally competitive economy,” Goyal said.
The programme has delivered substantial results across multiple sectors. India received $667 billion in foreign direct investment between 2014-24, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all inflows since economic liberalisation.
The country’s ease of doing business ranking improved dramatically from 142nd in 2014 to 63rd in the World Bank’s 2020 report. Merchandise exports reached $437.42 billion in FY 2024-25, establishing India as a critical player in global trade.
India’s startup ecosystem expanded to over 180,000 government-recognised startups, making it the world’s third-largest after the US and China. The sector generated over 1.7 million jobs and produced 118 unicorns as of 2025.
The ₹1.97 lakh crore Production Linked Incentives scheme attracted investments worth ₹1.88 lakh crore across 806 approved applications, generating over 1.2 million direct and indirect jobs.
Industrial capabilities expanded significantly, with India becoming the world’s second-largest mobile phone manufacturer, producing 99% of smartphones domestically. Indigenous projects such as Vande Bharat trains and aircraft carrier INS Vikrant demonstrate growing engineering excellence.
Defence production reached ₹1.51 lakh crore in 2024-25, whilst exports of $23,622 crore now reach over 80 countries.
In semiconductors, India is advancing towards manufacturing its first 2-nanometre chips, progressing from earlier 7nm, 5nm and 3nm technologies. These will support developments in artificial intelligence, smartphones, high-performance systems, national security and space applications.
“These achievements collectively demonstrate the transformative impact of Make in India over the past decade, laying a strong foundation for a future-ready India and contributing to the vision of Viksit Bharat@2047,” the ministry statement concluded.
