Indian logistics burdened by compliance?

Indian logistics companies are burdened with compliances fragmented across finance and taxation, secretarial, commercial, labour, and environment, health & safety.

Logistics is a crucial component that keeps a country’s economy functioning. A robust logistical infrastructure guarantees that resources are gathered, stored, transported, and delivered efficiently.

Despite tremendous growth in logistics, regulatory cholesterol has slowed down its progress, argues Rishi Agrawal, co-founder and CEO of the Indian regulatory tech solutions firm TeamLease Regtech.

Teamlease Regtech recently produced a report which said that 83% of Indian logistics firms missed at least one critical compliance and 91% paid fines in the last 12 months.

“There is multiplicity of necessary documents such as registrations, approvals, licences, permissions, consent orders, certifications, leading to complex and overlapping documentation,” says Agarwal.

An MSME, with a single warehouse and corporate office in a single state, deals with 648 compliances in a year. Among them, 226 (or 34.8%) compliances contain imprisonment clauses.

Regulations apply to a logistics warehousing facility include quarterly disclosures to the WDRA, insurance against risks associated with the goods deposited in the warehouse…

Maintaining the quality of goods stored, complete and accurate records of all transactions, painting of walls and ceilings every 3 years and daily cleaning.

There are also one-time industry-specific including the IEC certificate, registration as a packer and approvals related to labour safety and health.

Agarwal also informs that over 4,000 regulatory updates are published by more than 2,000 websites every year which gives fluidity to the compliance ecosystem.

“This makes it impossible for a compliance officer to keep track of all ongoing compliances let alone worry about any updates or amendments that come through.”

“Technology-driven culture of compliance will go a long way in ensuring that the company stays on the right side of the law.

“These solutions can enable businesses to stay alert, aware, and ahead of the curve at all times while providing effective safeguards against lapses, delays, and defaults.”

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