The 2,150-km journey from Mumbai to Kolkata takes just over two days by rail and four days by car. But drive a a cargo-laden truck and the trip takes almost eight days, courtesy checkposts and toll points that occur by the dozen along the way. It traverses the distance at a snail’s pace of just 11 km per hour, losing almost two days idling at checkposts and other technical barriers, reveals a recent study.Conducted by Transport Corporation of India (TCI), the study tracked the progress of a truck carrying 9 tonnes of general cargo between the two metros, and revealed that it had to stop 23 times along the way for toll collection and another 26 times at border check posts for sales tax, octroi and documentation verification purposes, which together accounted for a massive 32 hour set-back in the journey. “Compared to an average of 1,000 km per day in countries like China, the US, Europe and in several Asian nations, Indian trucks manage barely 350-400 km per day,” said TCI executive director Vineet Agarwal. “The impact on the bottomlines as a result of these irrational stoppages and checkposts is, predictably, quite huge.”A recent World Bank report noted that such hold-ups cost the economy between Rs 900 crore and Rs 2,300 crore a year in lost truck operating hours. Titled Road Transport Service Efficiency Study, the report added that these delays cause a massive slump in equipment utilisation rates for Indian trucking fleet, which average 60,000 km to 100,000 km per truck-year — less than a quarter of the rate witnessed in developed countries.“Trucks in India have to stop at two basic points, the various border checkposts and toll tax barriers,” said Yogesh Arya, director with logistics service provider Indo Arya. “While toll tax barriers are quite rationalised and do not take up much time, it is checkposts that cause the maximum delays due to a long drawn out document verification process.” This document sheaf, to be produced at every such border checkpost, typically includes a cargo invoice, packing list of the cargo and a separate set of complex documents applicable if the cargo in question is eligible for payment of excise duties. Add to that a separate sales tax authority form that has to be filled for states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarkhand, Orissa, Rajasthan and West Bengal. Compounding this are additional truck permits.A key issue impacting the road transport business is the continued existence of the archaic octroi tax in states like Maharashtra and Gujarat, which along with other “facilitation payments” or bribes, make a huge impact on costs. “A typical truck trip between Mumbai and Delhi costs Rs 17,000, of which at least 10 per cent goes towards payment of monies that are aimed at hastening the process of transit,” said an expert in the business.According to the World Bank report, such “facilitation payments” made at checkpoints to circumvent various regulations have been estimated to range between Rs 900 crore and Rs 7,200 crore a year. With these issues continuing to impact the profitability and productivity of the trucking business — leading to margins as low as 3-4 per cent in some cases — companies like TCI and Indo Arya are diversifying into areas like warehousing and logistics, or shifting to other modes of transport like rail.The Rs 250 crore Indo Arya expects the Railways to ferry 25 per cent of its cargo in the next three years, up from less than 10 per cent currently. At the same time, TCI, which drives Rs 1,100 crore of business, sees the share of its trucking business coming down from 55 per cent of revenues to 40 per cent over the next couple of years.CHEQUE THAT POST• Kolkata to Mumbai by road: 2,150 km• Crew members: 2• Time lost at check post/ toll: 32 hours• Such hold-ups cost economy Rs 900 cr-Rs 2,300 cr a year in lost truck operating hours
