Indian logistics industry has to brace itself to facilitate aviation growth

April 11, 2019: The Air Cargo Forum of India (ACFI), the nationwide forum for the entire cargo logistics/supply chain industry, had organised a one-day conference titled "INDIA - Future Air Cargo Leader in South East Asia- Air Cargo Policy a Key Facilitator".

The forum is represented by some of the prominent players from the air cargo fraternity such as Air India Limited (AI), Blue Dart Aviation Limited, DHL Express India Private Limited, Emirates Sky Cargo, Federal Express Corporation (FedEx), InterGlobe Aviation Limited (IndiGo), Jet Airways (India), Qatar Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines Cargo and Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR) to name a few.

The Global Aviation Industry is in a high growth trajectory and ushered in an era of rapid expansion. India is set to become the 3rd fastest growing economy in the world by 2030 and this will propel the Indian Aviation Industry as the3rd largest in the movement of both passenger and cargo traffic. However, India's total annual air freight volume stands at 3.3 Million Metric Tonne despite a continuous growth of over 10 percent YoY and has not reached close to any one of the top three world class airports i.e Hong Kong 5 Millon MT, Memphis 3.56 Million MT & Shanghai 3.26 Million MT for the year 2017-18 owing to procedural bottlenecks.

The present government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is framing progressive and development policies in order to keep pace with the global players.

In an endeavor to provide impetus to the air cargo industry, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has recently released a National Air Cargo Policy Outline which has been well received by the industry.

The air cargo industry is of the collective opinion that this policy could be a key facilitator and has all the ingredients to drive India as the future air cargo leader in South East Asia.

The logistics industry in India has to brace itself to support the anticipated growth in the civil aviation industry. It requires combined efforts in the field of infrastructure and technology to be able to take advantage of the opportunities. Simultaneously there should be liberal policy initiatives on the part of the Government. Regulation and technology both put their own unique pressures onto freight forwarders and mean that strategic choices need to be made more carefully in order to succeed.

The event received a tremendous response with participation of over 150 delegates from the MoCA, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Finance, Senior Regulatory agencies, major Exporters & Importers and members of Air Cargo logistics trade & Industry. The event was graced by the Secretary, Civil Aviation, Government of India Pradeep Singh Kharola, IAS as the chief guest and Vandana Aggarwal, Economic Adviser, Ministry of Civil Aviation as the Guest of Honour.

The event was divided into two sessions while the focus of the Business Session 1 was on the air cargo policy - Role of Infrastructure & Information Technology (IT), Business Session 2 was more analytical trying to assess how air cargo would be a key contributor to the entire value chain.

The deliberations of this summit was well in time to meet the future growth in air cargo industry and also to discuss the impact of the National Air Cargo Policy which is expected to bring fundamental changes in improving the level of ease of doing business.

Tushar K Jani, president, ACFI delivered the welcome address followed by address by Vandana Aggarwal.

Pradeep Singh Kharola, delivered the key note address with focus on the potential of air cargo logistics industry and its challenges.

Kharola highlighted the proactive steps the government had taken in facilitating ease of doing business which has started to show results on the ground and assured the ACFI members that the MoCA will work hand in hand with the air cargo fraternity to achieve the goal of becoming the 3rd largest growing economy.

During the discourse of the Business Session, the speakers from both international and domestic air cargo segment were unanimous in their opinion that the air cargo industry is poised to achieve greater height provided some of the procedural bottlenecks if addressed would only aid the cause immensely.

ACFI was established on September 14, 2012 with a vision to "Build a world class environmental friendly air logistics industry to boost the Indian economy".