‘Logistics cost at 8% of GDP, more burden on small cos’
In 2023-24, for entities with turnover of up to Rs 5 crore, the cost added up to 16% of their output while it was pegged at 7.6% in the case of companies with turnover of Rs 250 crore or more. Logistics costs were estimated at 9.1% of non-services output in India.“The estimates derived for the previous five years show that the pace of growth in the logistics cost is gradually slowing down compared with the pace of growth in non-services output,” said the study by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade done by NCAER.
Although it follows a different methodology, an earlier estimate for 2016 had pegged India’s logistics cost at 13% of GDP, compared with around 8% in the US and South Korea.The survey estimated logistics costs as a proportion of total output across commodity groups, based on the type of goods manufactured.
This share is significant in the transport equipment sector at 21.4% of total output, followed by textiles and apparel, agricultural products, and pharmaceuticals.
It estimated the per tonne per km to be the lowest in the case of coastal ships at Rs 1.80.
