The logistics ecosystem of Madhya Pradesh is still governed by conventional infrastructure and practices. Thus, there is need to adopt best practices from other states and take advantage of national schemes and projects. This will help Madhya Pradesh to become country’s logistics hub. This is the finding of Madhya Pradesh Rajya Niti Ayog’s Policy Brief 2024 on Pathways to STI (Science, Technology and Innovation) led Growth of Madhya Pradesh.
According to report, Madhya Pradesh does not have a separate Logistics Policy. The sector and its incentives are covered under the industrial investment policy, which was amended in 2018. The state needs to create an environment that supports adaptation to advance technologies, training and capacity building, attracting benefit in logistics sector. Some of the constant challenges, which state and the stakeholders are facing include high cost of movement and repositioning. As a result, it raises the overall cost of logistics and further reduces the competitiveness of state export mechanism.
Another challenge is underdeveloped material handling infrastructure. This speaks about unorganised warehousing landscape dominated by small warehouses, lack of cold storage facilities and an absence of value-added services. The state also lacks single user and proper racking facilities. Another drawback is unavailability of truck terminals and resting places for drivers. Such bottlenecks create an overall impact on national level logistics sector ranking of states.
On Logistics Ease Across the Different States (LEADS), an annual ranking exercise conducted by Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Madhya Pradesh is ranked 17th on 2021 index compared to 9th position on 2019 index. The policy brief recommends improvement in institutional framework, granting Logistics Parks as infrastructure and priority status, formulating digital platform, website for logistics.
Besides, sector needs to stay updated with emerging trends in technology and also adopt smart enforcement measures. This includes installation of Automatic Number Plate Recognition System, which allows cross checking of number plates and names as specified in e-way bill from central database.