An industry body on Tuesday appealed to the West Bengal government to expedite release of a logistics policy to draw investments in the sector, an official said. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) eastern region’s sub-committee on logistics, warehousing and transport chairman Debashish Dutta urged state industry and commerce minister Shashi Panja to accelerate the process.
The industry body had submitted its suggestions on logistics to the state’s investment nodal agency, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation,.
“The policy has been pending for several years, and so we have sought time from the new industry minister to apprise her of benefits of the implementation of the policy. This sector can bring in a lot of investment but requires support of the state at least in the form of tax breaks.” Dutta told PTI.
Several state governments have their own logistics policies, he said.
Panja, since she took the charge of the department, has been asking industry bodies to come up with suggestions for required government interventions.
Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata Chairman Vinit Kumar said a national logistics policy is expected to be released by this weekend by Prime Minister Nareandra Modi.
There is a huge demand for warehousing from the e-commerce sector in the city, and the port is working on a scheme, he said.
The policy is aimed at filling up the gaps with the Centre’s ambitious GatiShakti national master plan, which is focused on building robust infrastructure for sustainable logistics to help reduce freight cost for industries.
West Bengal has been seeking investment in the state, and had also come out with a 24×7 grievance redressal system for industries.
