Surat: A seminar was organized by the Chamber on the topic ‘Gati Shakti and Exim Process Digitalization’. Loktej Surat, Business News

A seminar on ‘Gati Shakti and EXIM Process Digitization’ was organized by South Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Saturday evening. In which Anshuman Patnaik, Business Development Manager of NICDC Logistics Data Services and Haresh Kalkattawala, Co-Founder of Trajix Software Pvt Ltd, informed the traders about the changes in the export process of Indian products and the easy import-export process. Indian Ambassador to Egypt Nivetha participated in the seminar online.

Chamber of Commerce President Ramesh Vaghasia said in the welcome address, “Earlier when the logistics cost of other countries of the world was 8 to 10 percent of the total GDP, then India’s logistics cost was 14 percent. But after the launch of PM Gati Shakti, logistics expenditure has become only 7.8 percent of GDP. Other countries of the world export more using waterways. USA 16.9 percent and Japan 99 percent of the goods are transported by waterways, whereas in India only 2 percent of the goods are transported by waterways.

Talking about other modes of transport, he said, ‘Cargo release time has reduced in India. In the year 2011, it used to take 107 hours, which has reduced to 85 hours by the year 2023. In India, 71 percent of the total logistics transportation is by road, while 17.5 percent of the logistics transportation is by rail.

Due to the pace of PM, lakhs of jobs have been created in different areas of the country. Besides, the gap in regional development and infrastructure has also reduced. He said that the future 100 PM Kinetic Cargo will make an important contribution to the country’s economy. He gave information about the work done by the government for logistics transportation in the year 2022-2023.

Anshuman Patnaik, Business Development Manager, NICDC Logistics Data Services, said, “The Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) was launched on September 17, 2022, under the National Logistics Policy by Prime Minister Narendrabhai Modi. Due to which the cost of exports has come down from double digits to single digits. Through ULIP, exporters get 100 percent accurate information about their product containers. Through ULIP, manufacturers, e-commerce, transporters and logistics service providers can get real-time location of their containers.

He further said, ‘Under ULIP, exporters can export products by rail, road, air and sea. Along with this, large industries, start-ups, FMCG, MSME, CPSE/PSU entrepreneurs can reduce the cost of exports by using green logistics and carbon emissions will also reduce due to green logistics.

Haresh Kalkattawala, Co-Founder, Trezix Software Pvt Ltd, said, “Since the process in the export sector is very lengthy, compliance issues and track and trace are major problems for exporters. In India, the Exim process from purchase order to the time the order reaches the importer is 99 per cent manual, with only 1 per cent digital. All the processes are done manually i.e. Excel, Word and e-mail.’

He further said, ‘One thing that can be seen in entrepreneurs of developed countries or successful entrepreneurs of India is that they get the work done by perfectionists. While doing business, it is always important to spend money to take your business to new dimensions instead of saving money in tax and other matters.

Himanshu Bodawala, the then former president of the Chamber of Commerce, who was present at the seminar, thanked everyone. Entrepreneurs including Honorary Treasurer Kiran Thummar and Group Chairman Amish Shah and Bhavesh Taylor were present. Paresh Bhatt, CEO, SGCCI Global Connect Mission 84, moderated the entire seminar. Both the experts satisfactorily answered various questions of the entrepreneurs and then the seminar was concluded.