Apr-May-June-2018

It continues to loom large
on India that it is the only
country of this size that does
not have a logistics hub.
Predicted to be the world’s fifth
largest exporter by 2030, India
is far behind its Asian counter
parts when it comes to building
transshipment hubs.
United Arab Emirates' (UAE)
quality of overall transport
infrastructure is ranked third
best in the world. Singapore
Changi Airport that provides
consultation and training to
other airports in the world, has
been ranked the best airport
for six consecutive years.
Airport Authority of India and
Changi Airports International
(CAI) called off collaboration to
design, develop and maintain
Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports,
because both parties could
not agree on the commercial
terms. Singapore Airports
Terminal Services Limited that
holds 80 percent in Changi
Airport’s cargo handling and
catering business, has a 50:50
joint venture with Air India, to
offer world class facilities and
services at international airports
in India like Bengaluru, Delhi,
Hyderabad, Mangalore and
Trivandrum.
Having said that, adoption
of innovation and technology
along with substantial infrastructure
investments are coming
at the right time in the Indian
airports sector. India is taking
steps in the right direction.
As aviation in India grows,
India is on the verge of expanding
connectivity by establishing
100 airports in the next 15
years at an investment of Rs 4
lakh crore. Kapil Kaul, CEO of
Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation
(CAPA), pointed out that Indian
airport capacity shortages have
reached a near crisis situation,
as planning for additional
capacity has remained unaddressed
for the past 10 years.
India has 100 operational
airports and is the fastestgrowing
aviation market in
terms of domestic passenger
growth. Domestic airlines are
also geared to add more airplanes
for complementing the
connectivity growth. In terms
of cargo, the capacity of Indian
airports stands at 4.63 million
tonnes, and there is a need
for additional 2 million metric
tonnes to meet the projected
air cargo demand of 60 percent
in the next five years.
The government of India has
earmarked Rs 88,000 crore for
capital projects at airport covering
air cargo facilities over the
next five years. It has built 21
common user domestic cargo
terminals in Airport Authority of
India (AAI) airports, and plans
to reduce cargo release time to
two days for air imports, and
one day for exports.
It is also a stated objective
to bring down logistics cost to
9 percent of GDP by 2022, from
the current 13- 14 percent. The
ministry is working towards
improving India’s ranking in
World Bank’s Logistics Performance
Index (LPI) from 35 to
15 by 2020. This year, India
will be introducing a Domestic
Logistics Performance Index
(LPI) to rank the Indian states as
per competition. While India’s
neighbouring nations like
Singapore, Hong Kong and UAE
have made huge strides in the
area of logistics, India shall now
declare logistics as an industry,
APR - JUN 2018| www.acaainews.com 5