What do Indian logistics leaders expect from Union Budget 2023-24?

A recent survey on budget expectations conducted by CareEdge noted that 88 percent of respondents felt the government’s focus on infrastructure spending will continue in FY24.

Rizwan Soomar, DP World: “Budgetary allocation to capital expenditure projects, spread across roads, railways and ports, will be essential for encouraging logistic infra development, creating resilient supply chains and spurring private investments."

Essar Ports' Rajiv Agarwal wants the budget to look at the rationalization of taxes which can not only boost savings & domestic consumption but also investment in new projects.

Anil Verma of Godrej & Boyce also thinks that the government needs to rationalise GST rates for major construction materials such as cement and recycled construction materials from construction & demolition waste.

V-Trans' (India) Mahendra Shah believes that investments in infrastructure and technology can be given some motivation by offering tax benefits.

Blue Dart’s Ketan Kulkarni: “Budget should fund multiple interventions under #NLP so that its impact is visible over the next 12–18 months.”

Yogesh Dhingra of Smartr Logistics believes that allocating capital and commissioning projects to promote and fast-track infrastructure development should be a key priority for the Union Budget 2023.

Christian Roeloffs of Container xChange, believes that the Indian government will continue to focus on improving infrastructure and streamlining logistics operations in the 2023 budget.

Prasad Sreeram of Cogos Technologies is looking at the faster implementation of ULIP. “It would improve interoperability, reduce cost and improve efficiency in the logistics sector."

Kami Viswanathan of FedEx Express recommends a special focus on #aircargo. “The development and expansion of #airports to meet the rapidly growing demand for air cargo capacity and digitized systems to streamline surging cross-border shipments will be essential."

Varun Gada, LP Logiscience, a Liladhar Pasoo company, wants the government to look into the #warehousing sector with special consideration. And he listed seven things for the government to note.

Swarup Bose of Celcius Logistics thinks subsidies focused on the unique cold storage needs for sectors like fresh foods, dairy, meat, frozen and processed food as well as pharma products and intermediaries would go a long way.

Nitish Rai of FreightFox wants the budget to include fleet owners under the GST. “This would help them save up to 10% of their costs incurred towards the new fleet, tyres, etc."

Arham Partap Jain of Trucknetic expects the budget to keep logistics as a priority sector. “Rising fuel prices present a challenge for the logistics industry."

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