E-Paper
UP leapfrogged 7 ranks, Gujarat tops logistics ease index
Piyush Goyal hailed UP, saying that the significant improvement reflects the efforts made by the UP government in improving infrastructure.
Uttar Pradesh (UP) has shown an outstanding performance in the ease of logistics this year, jumping seven slots from its previous 13th position, while Gujarat retained its top slot for the third consecutive year, Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday, releasing the Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) Report 2021.
“I saw some states have leapfrogged significantly... Uttar Pradesh, for example, has leapfrogged seven ranks in just two years, from 2019 to 2021, and that is probably the highest jump any state has had,” he said, adding that the significant improvement reflects the efforts made by the UP government in improving infrastructure.
Launched in 2018 by the commerce and industry ministry, the LEADS index ranks 21 states on the basis of ease of logistics parameters such as infrastructure, services, and operating and regulatory environment.
The 2021 survey was conducted between May and August 2021, and the exercise garnered 3,771 responses from 1,405 respondents across the country
The top six states in the LEADS index are Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Odisha came seventh in the latest round, followed by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Compared to the rankings in 2019, while Haryana jumped from the sixth position to second, Punjab slipped from the second position to third, Tamil Nadu moved up one rank to fourth, and Maharashtra lost one rank.
Assam stood last among 21 states while Jammu & Kashmir was ranked first in the Northeastern states and Himalayan region, followed by Sikkim and Meghalaya. Delhi ranked first among the Union territories, while Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand were among the states recording remarkable improvements, the report said.
While launching the report, Goyal said, LEADS will encourage healthy competition among states and UTs for improvement in logistics development and help the government in bringing down the logistics cost by 5% over the next five years. According to industry secretary, Anurag Jain, estimated logistics costs in India is currently about 14%, which is quite high compared to 8-10% globally.
“Rather than just absolute improvement in one state, improvement of logistics across all states will be a force multiplier for the entire logistics ecosystem,” Goyal said. States play an indispensable role in improving the logistics ecosystem of India, he added.
