PM GatiShakti, National Logistics Policy to support India’s economic growth: Economic Survey

NEW DELHI : Support for India’s economic growth will come from path-breaking measures like PM GatiShakti, National Logistics Policy and Production-Linked Incentives schemes, according to the Economic Survey 2022-23. The Economic Survey 2022-23 was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday. It details the state of the economy in the current fiscal while giving a sneak peek into the future.

According to the survey, while roads, railways and waterways have seen unprecedented expansion in the last eight years, ports and airports have been substantially upgraded.

It pointed out that logistics costs in India have been in the range of 14-18 per cent of GDP against the global benchmark of 8 per cent.

The PM Gati Shakti – National Master Plan was announced in 2021 to break departmental silos and bring in more holistic and integrated planning and execution of projects to address the issues of multi-modal and last-mile connectivities.

The projects pertaining to seven engines (roads, railways, airports, ports, mass transport, waterways and logistic infrastructure) in the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) will be aligned with PM Gati Shakti framework.

Noting that to bring in further convergence with comprehensive planning across the Centre and states, PM GatiShakti has sectoral complementarity of logistics facilitation through the National Logistics Policy launched in September 2022, the survey said, “All of this is expected to tighten the nuts and bolts for the arduous infrastructure journey that our country has undertaken together by the participation of centre, state, local governments and the private sector”.

While pointing out that traditional infrastructure sectors such as roads and railways have received a renewed push in recent years, the key document said sectors like inland water transport and civil aviation, which have significant untapped potential, are also being encouraged sufficiently.

The global economy is still recovering from the setback due to Covid-19 pandemic while geopolitical conflicts continue and India could successfully steer through the situation owing to its dedicated support to infrastructure through increased capex and strong macroeconomic fundamentals, the Economic Survey said .

This underpinned economic growth when the private sector was alert in investing due to its balance sheet problems and uncertain demand outlook stemming from global shocks. The targeted increase in investment is seen across all infrastructure sectors.

While traditional infrastructure sectors including railways have received a renewed push in recent years, sectors such as inland water transport and civil aviation, which have significant untapped potential, are also being encouraged sufficiently.

Parallelly, the focus is also on improving coordination among different stakeholders and ministries. This will help resolve compliance issues and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of investments. Besides, the reforms being undertaken in the energy and power sector will help fast-track the country’s progress in the next 25 years, it said.

With a population of nearly 140 crore, India has a massive demand for energy from all sectors including primary, secondary and tertiary. Affordable and reliable availability of power is critical for India’s aspirations for the manufacturing sector to be fulfilled, the Survey said.

Further, with the growing importance of clean energy, there has been a renewed push towards non-fossil fuel-based energy sources in the power sector. The government, along with the private sector, has progressively worked towards increasing the share of renewables. This will ensure a gradual but calibrated energy transition, meeting the country’s sustainability targets and giving primacy to its national developmental requirements, it added.