‘Infrastructure is India’s biggest supply chain challenge’

     

India is a country in south Asia. It is the seventh largest country by area, the second most populous country with over 1.2 million and the most populous democracy in the world. In logistics ,supply chain in one of the most important part to produce finished goods. But if we see a research conducted by Rick Blasgen heads the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), a US-based global body that conducts research and training programmes for the sector, it shows that India has a lack of infrastructures that gives a big challenges to supply chain management. To them, More can be accomplished if there’s better infrastructure and the ability to scale up to get products to the villages. They also expected that there’s going to be a huge opportunity once infrastructure bottlenecks are removed. This country has the potential to come up as a supply chain centre of excellence for the world. In this case, the researcher wants to say that water, road and rail system are important to connect with port.


So the solution to overcome hinterland access problem is the company need to build a larger and efficient distribution centre into the interiors to consolidate access and move larger ones on efficient and appropriate vehicles. It is because the distribution will involve cost for movement of goods which is by transportation. As you know, India has a long route from one point to another point in their country. For example, Mumbai (Maharashtra) to Kolkata (West Bengal) driving directions for the distance of 1959 kilometres. It will take at least 1 day 4 hours 5 minutes by road. So it will cost you by fuel of transport and services. So we need an efficient mode of transportation that can reduce time and cost.


But if you can eliminate barriers and the congestion, and create a road or rail system that’ll allow long-distance travel, then it helps in opening up markets. Retailers and supply chain companies will come in to develop infrastructure and distribution centres. Consolidate and scale up distribution at lower costs. Think of the cold supply chain (in India). Just imagine the wastage that happens because there is no proper infrastructure for temperature control and refrigeration of goods.


India also can try to explore inland waterway system. The government have to played their role to look an opportunity at water, rail and road systems and connect them with ports. All this will see better movement of goods without obstruction. That will allow India to step up and be a global player. And it will also help bring in manufacturing.