Is this what keeps India running? - Trucking
The Indian trucking industry plays an important role and is vital to keeping the economy running at good pace. Trucks are the backbone of the logistics and transportation sector carrying nearly 70 percent of India’s freight. Trucks are capable of transporting raw materials, finished products, agriculture produce to anywhere in the country, connecting industries, producers and consumer. So, trucking really is important and big, but how much ? let’s find out-
The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) is a think tank of created by the Indian Government, tasked with designing strategic long term policies and programs to catalyze economic development and foster cooperative federalism.
The Indian government optimistically states that the number of trucks on Indian roads is going to grow four fold from 4 million 2022 to 17 million in 2050.
According to a NITI Aayog report titled ‘Transforming Trucking in India: Pathways to Zero-Emission Truck Deployment, currently, India transports 4.6 billion tonnes of freight annually, generating a transport demand of 2.2 trillion tonne-kilometres which is expected to increase to 9.6 trillion tonne-kilometers by 2050 and medium-duty trucks (HDTs and MDTs) are responsible for most of that road transportation.
The rise in urbanization, population increase, the rise of e-commerce and rising income levels leading to increased consumer spending, and demand for goods.
The international logistics market is also facing strong headwinds, The rise in fuel costs in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war has increased operational costs and longer delivery timelines or supply chain disruptions like the lack of drivers, not enough wages have become more common in the post-pandemic times which leave logistics companies and economies with no or less profits.
The Indian logistics sector has a small-scale and unorganized operational model. The operational costs are higher compared to leading global markets. The lack of a technology driven operational process is one reason that leads to such efficiency challenges.
India’s emergence as a global IT power, has had a positive impact on the trucking businesses. Has made way for logistics SaaS solution providers like Porter by SmartShift Logistics Solutions.
Aided by the rapid infrastructure development and digital connectivity could make way for Indian trucking platforms and services that make use of machine learning algorithms, data analytics, GPS and IoT to build the new age trucking marketplaces and change the lives of Indian truckers.