NCR: Jewel in the EXIM crown?

At the recently-held Maritime CEO Conclave in New Delhi, challenges pertaining to the Delhi-NCR region were discussed. Panellists also deliberated on how initiatives taken by the government need to now be carried forward by the industry.

Highlighting the two major changes that happened last year in the NCR region, Jasjit

Sethi, CEO, Transport Corporation of India – Supply Chain Solutions, said,”Earlier, NCR used to be quite a diffused area. The KundliManesar-Palwal stretch and the eastern periphery expressway were built last year. The expressway has a combined length of 270 km. Earlier, ICD in Panipat, Loni, Fatuha or Patli used to have their own catchment area, and it was not viable to take trucks to these ICDs from the other side. This ring road has become a great leveller. It will change the way ICDs are based around NCR. Also, the government raised axle rates on trucks by 12-14 per cent in July last year. This has made roads more reliable. The norms were last updated in 1988. Lot of movement towards ports happens via road and this will propagate further.” Labelling NCR as a ‘shining region’, Sanjay Swarup, Director - International Marketing & Operations, Container Corporation of India, said, “Almost 60 per cent of the container traffic is between gateway ports and North India. Most importantly, NCR has already got almost 12-13 ICD terminals and we do not need more because customers have an ample number of choices. However, though NCR is well-connected to the western coast ports, container movement is not that good from the eastern sector.” Speaking from the perspective of shipping lines, Tarun Kalra, VP – North, MSC Agency India, said, “The share of exports from North India or NCR to the overall massif of exports and imports of the country has been receding. I would also like to throw some light on the aspect of fragmentation of business and unnecessary ICDs. I believe that fragmentation can be countered and it just requires a friendly sentiment. Fragmentation can be removed through collaborations and promoting the hub-and-spoke model to bring down cost.” Commenting on why roadways are a more attractive mode for movement of cargo, Swarup said, “In our country, for distances more than 700 kms, rail becomes more competitive as compared to road. The customer basically looks for transit time and low cost. On double stack, we are able to attract traffic from road to rail, but the real breakthrough will come after DFC gets commissioned, which will bring a lot of cargo from road to rail.” Talking about the relevance of NCR ex-im, Vinita Venkatesh, Director, Navayuga Container Terminal, said, “Delhi is the nerve centre of everything. What is also to be noted is that though we have a 7000 km-long coastline, we don’t have a developed maritime industry. We always point fingers at our government for non-development of the maritime sector. In the last five years, everything has undergone massive change, starting from GST, which has facilitated logistics in a big way. Now, the ball is in our court to see if we are going to respond to these initiatives of the government. Are we going to still stay territorial in our minds? Are we collectively going to look at India as a whole and are we prepared to take a decision that involves disruption of thinking?” “We have a huge infrastructure created by the government and it is now upto all of us to emerge as a massive logistics industry,” concluded Venkatesh.