How Indian states fare on logistics: What the Centre’s latest survey says

How are landlocked states doing?

The government’s perception survey based on responses from 7,321 respondents said that average scores across parameters such as quality of roads, terminal, cost of logistics and availability of skilled workforce have improved in landlocked states as compared to 2019. However, official data shows that only five states namely Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana continue to make up for 70 per cent of exports.

Over the years this has caused a widening gap in income and job generation between the landlocked states and coastal states.

The survey results on the quality of roads and terminals said that Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh have received low perception scores on these counts while user satisfaction in Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab improved. Notably, the survey said that Jharkhand saw below-average scores across all indicators, encompassing infrastructure, services, and operating and regulatory categories.

How has the North-East Group performed?

The North Eastern states that have seen considerable social unrest during the last year contribute barely 2.8 per cent towards India’s GDP and require the maximum logistics-related upliftment. The survey said that there has been a marked improvement in all parameters compared to the 2019 survey.

On Manipur, the survey said that user satisfaction levels for the state are generally lower than the average of the North-East Group for all indicators across pillars. The data indicated relatively high stress in the ‘easy of entry’ category. While Assam performed better than average on most counts, the user performance assessment was also below the average of North-East Group in the case of Meghalaya.

Odisha, West Bengal lag among coastal states

Indian coastal states including Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal account for 75 per cent of total exports from the country and have fared well in logistics historically. Gujarat accounts for 33 per cent followed by Maharashtra with 16 per cent and Tamil Nadu with 9 per cent share.

However, the survey showed that Goa, Odisha and West Bengal continue to perform below the average among coastal states. In the case of Odisha, the survey said that there has been an improvement in the overall perception of the state’s logistics ecosystem since 2019 but despite this, the indicator averages for this year have remained below the Coastal Group average.