‘Bharatmala to lower logistics costs’

Roads built under India’s ambitious Bharatmala programme will increase vehicle travelling speed by around 20-25 per cent, thereby helping reduce logistics costs, said Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. This in turn would help reduce India’s supply chain cost to 6 per cent from the present levels of 18 per cent. India has been grappling with high logistics costs of 16-18 per cent, which make its exports uncompetitive vis-à-vis China, which has lower logistics costs of 8-10 per cent.