Senior IAS officer Binoy Kumar today took charge as Special Secretary (logistics) in the commerce ministry, a recently created post to facilitate logistics with a view to cut transaction costs for exporters.
"Logistics is a key component for increasing competitiveness of exporters by reducing transport cost and expedite shipments," a senior ministry official said.
There was no single department to look at all the aspects related to logistics covering various modes of shipment such as sea, roads and railways.
Kumar will be looking after logistics development to promote exports and domestic trade.
"The sector needs lot of coordination among different ministries and departments including railways, road and shipping. Good logistics help cut transaction costs for traders," the official, who did not wish to be named, said.
Kumar, a 1983-batch IAS officer of the Telangana cadre, was the Director General of Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) and played an instrumental role in development of the Government e-Marketplace (GeM).
GeM was designed to promote transparency in procurement of goods and services for ministries, departments and public sector undertakings.
Exporters had earlier demanded a specific department to deal with the issues related to logistics.
An umbrella body would help coordinate all aspects of logistics, which is currently managed by different departments.
In India, the container transport is heavily inclined in favour of roads due to high freight rates of railway, unpredictable and unreliable scheduling of freight trains and poor last-mile connectivity.
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