India’s leading association of Exporters & Importers, the Northern Impex Shippers’ Association (NISA) organised a Virtual Interactive Session with Capt. Deepak Tewari, Chairman, Container Shipping Lines Association on “Facilitating Exports from MSMEs and Making Indian Exports Cost Effective” on 2 November 2023.
Capt Tewari in his presentation spoke about the importance of MSME exporters as they contributed 43.6% of India’s exports in 2022-23 and their special focus on reducing cost of logistics. He informed that logistics cost accounted for 18% of the final price of the product in India while for developed countries it was 9-10%. He lamented that road is the primary mode of movement of freight and is the most expensive mode. According to him cost of freight movement by road was Rs 2.58/MT/Km, Rs 1.41 MT/km by rail and Rs 1.06/MT/Km by waterways. He gave a brief about the innovations done by MSC for controlling the logistics cost and providing good facilities to MSME exporters like –Smart Containers, electronic Bill of Lading, e-Business portal, online freight quotation.
He urged MSME exporters to use new software tools that are available and focus on inventory management as inventory cost as % of GDP was 6-6.5% in India as compared to 2-3% in developed countries by using data analytics, optimized stock classification, just in time inventory management, improving warehousing infrastructure. Mr T S Ahluwalia, General Secretary, NISA, delivered the Opening Remarks and emphasised on the significance of lower logistics cost for Indian exporters. Mr Pankaj Bansal, President, NISA, in his Welcome Address described the activities of NISA and how the Association is fighting for the cause of India exporters. Mr Sanjiv Suri, Vice President, NISA, delivered the Vote of Thanks.
