Govt working to reduce logistics cost to 9 % of GDP: Nitin Gadkari

Cont’d. from Pg. 2

Speaking at an event organised by industry chamber CII, the Road, Transport and Highways Minister further said India's exports will increase when its logistics cost will comedowntosingledigit.

The Government is going by certain estimates which suggest that logistics cost in India is in double digits. The government has rolled out anationallogisticspolicyandPMGati Shakti initiative to boost competitiveness of industry and cut logisticscosts.

Earlier this year, the Commerce and Industry Ministry had said that a task force will be set up for The task force members would include representatives from NITI Aayog, MinistryofStatisticsandProgramme Implementation (MOSPI), National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), academic expertsandotherstakeholders.

In terms of EV production, Gadkari said that India was 4th in EV production and is currently 3rd, leapfroggingJapan,andwouldbefirst inthenext5years.

"Indiaisamajorexporthubofcars and in the coming days, our tractor, buses, auto rickshaws will be exportedtoo,"hesaid.

The Minister urged the private sector to come forward and leverage the increasing investment opportunities in the sector, given the increasing economic viability, per-capita GDP and rising opportunities.

"Entrepreneurship and adequate investments are highly important to make India a super economic power," hesaid.

Coordination & Cooperation required under PM Gati Shakti among all stakeholders for developing ecosystem : Nitin Gadkari

NEWDELHI: UnionMinisterfor Road Transport and Highways

Shri Nitin Gadkari said Coordination, Cooperation and Communication under PM Gati Shakti Master plan among all stakeholders is necessary for National Highway development ecosystem. NHAI Workshop on Implementation of e-BG & Insurance Surety Bonds for Contracts in New Delhi he said decision making hastobetimebound,transparentand resultoriented.

Minister of State Gen. (Dr.) V. K. Singh (Retd.); Shri Anurag Jain, Secretary, MoRTH; Shri Santosh Kumar Yadav Chairman, NHAI & senior officials from MoRTH, NeSL, IRDAI, NHAI, NHIDCL, Industry experts,representativesofbanksand insurance companies were present ontheoccasion.

Theobjectiveofthisworkshopwas to highlight the benefits of e-BGs and Insurance Surety Bonds among various stakeholders and expedite adoption of these instruments. Wider implementation of e-BG and Insurance Surety Bonds will ensure greater transparency and efficiency ofprocesses.

The workshop saw various presentations made by NeSL, Banks and Insurance Companies. The sessions dwelled deeper into e-BG workflow, Regulatory Framework of Surety Bonds and deliberated different prospectives for vendorsandthebeneficiaries.

NHAI has started accepting the Bid Security and Performance Securityintheformofe-BG.However, atpresentonly13banksin19states& Union Territories provide the facility of issuing e-BG. Despite this, till date about 202 e-BGs pertaining to NHAI contracts have been issued by various banks in different states throughNeSLplatform.

NHAI is also in touch with the insurance companies to analyze use of Insurance Surety Bonds as an additional mode of submitting Bid Security and /or Performance Security Deposit. The Insurance Surety Bonds, when issued, would be cost effective and provide adequate security for NHAI projects.

CWC to get Company Status to improve Ease of Doing Business

NEW DELHI: Almost seven decadesafteritsinception,theCentre plans to unshackle Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) from being a statutory body into becoming a company by amending the Warehousing Corporations Act and introducing a CWC (Transfer of Undertaking)Bill.

“Since CWC is already a grade one Miniratna and is a commercial organisation,itscontinuationunderthe Warehousing Corporations Act only imposesrestrictionsthatarebottleneck to business expansion, roadblock to decision making and a restrain to competing with private players in the sector,”saidanofficialsource.

He said the administrative Department of Food and Public Distribution held a meeting with all stakeholders last January where it was decided to go ahead with CWC transformation.InJuly2021,theCWC board gave an “in principle approval” foritsconversionintoacompany.

Once CWC becomes a company under the Companies Act of 2013, it would be able to exercise the powers of the Miniratna and expand its business into a full logistic supply chain without bureaucratic interference,headded.

CWC was created in 1957 for warehousing agricultural produce and certain other commodities but it must take prior approval of the central government before venturing intoanyothercommercialactivity.

It operates 424 warehouses with an operational capacity of about 110 lakh tonnes. It also holds 50 per cent equity in 19 state warehousing corporations that operate 2,190 warehouses with an aggregate storagecapacityof502.6lakhtonnes.

Once CWC becomes a company, it would have autonomy in business decisions as well as be free to issue bonds or borrow money from commercial entities. At present, it must consult RBI before seeking central government approval for raisingmoney.

When converted into a company, its shareholders would be free to trade their shares at a fair price, thereby giving an option to the Central government to divest its equity. The Centre holds 55.02 per cent in CWC while the StateBankofIndiaholds21.67percent.

The changeover would also allow CWC to sell, dispose of or lease out its fixed assets and land that were made available to CWC and its former subsidiary CRWC at concessional ratesbyStateGovernments,railways andportsforbuildingwarehouses.

In June 2021, the Cabinet approved the merger of state-owned Central Railside Warehouse Company Ltd (CRWC) with its holding enterprise CWC via slump saleforanundisclosedamount.