As many as 13 States and Union Territories bagged the top rank of ‘achievers’ in the “Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) 2024” report released on Friday prompting Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to say that he will work on making the criteria tougher.
Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu were awarded the top rank of ‘achievers’ amongst coastal States in the LEADS 2024 report which evaluated the logistics performance of States and UTs across four key pillars: logistics infrastructure, logistics services, operating and regulatory environment, and the newly introduced sustainable logistics.
Other ‘achievers’ included Haryana, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand in the land-locked group, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in the North-Eastern group, and Chandigarh and Delhi amongst Union Territories.
Launching the report, Goyal said that he had asked his team that for next year’s ranking the system should be tightened a little more. “I think too many people are getting high achievers awards. So we are going to tighten the entire marking system. Expectations have to go up. We can’t live with expectations set five years ago. We need to make better and more exacting standards,” he said.
The LEADS report, which highlights initiatives undertaken by various States and UTs across the identified pillars also focuses on State/UT-specific opportunities to enable informed decision-making.
The 6th edition of the report brings enhanced objectivity to its outcomes, with a notable increase in the number of objective indicators, pointed out Amardeep Singh Bhatia, Secretary, of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
These include measures related to accessibility to terminals and the speed of key road corridors across various States/UTs, offering a detailed perspective on logistics performance.