Aditya Vazirani, CEO of Robinsons Global Logistics Solutions said that the pandemic and the lockdown that lasted for major part of 2020, proved to be testing times for various businesses including the logistics and supply chain sector of India which had a remarkable contribution in keeping the supply chain for essential items, functional, albeit with a few hurdles in the beginning.

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Further, the challenges experienced by the sector during the pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for building a stronger and more relevant infrastructure that can not only withstand the unexpected disruptions of this scale but is also agile enough to help adopt and bounce back to efficiency almost immediately in the face of future conflicts.

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Listed here are some of the key trends in the Indian Logistics and Supply Chain sector that are set to dominate 2021:
 
Emphasis on Cold Supply Chain: 
 
As per ‘Indian Cold Chain Industry Outlook 2022’, the Indian cold supply chain sector is set to grow at a CAGR of 17-18%, till 2022, due to demand for cold storage, primarily driven by the pharma sector, especially the vaccine supply chain in early 2021, followed by requirements from seafood, meat and similar industries. While growth will be driven by introduction of a government led COVID immunization program, the growing e-commerce market for FMCG, dairy, meat and fish, will also help propel the sector significantly, given the ongoing virus threat. At present, healthcare products hold a 3.6% share in the overall Indian cold chain market that is expected to grow around 6% by the end of 2021 as per IMARC services.
 
Affordable Road transport: 
 
The Government of India plans to build a massive road network in future, emphasis will be given to develop infrastructure like dedicated freight corridors, container freight stations etc. India needs to come up with an intermodal and multimodal transport system to reduce the transportation and storage cost which in today’s time is relatively high. Unfortunately, current poor road infrastructure decreases the maximum distance that can be covered by the heavy transport vehicles on highways. To combat such challenges, Government of India has decided to cut down on the current logistics cost of India’s GDP in next two years with help of Ministries of Railways, Transport, Shipping and Aviation in order to achieve this goal.
 
Sustainable practices will be implemented: 
 
Green logistics is going to be the key aspect of the supply chain evolution in the year 2021. Sustainable practices have already become a norm amongst international logistics and supply chain players as well as businesses. They view the green supply chains as responsible and sometimes even mandatory criteria when selecting a logistics partner. With the influx of international manufacturing and e-commerce players, the Indian green Logistics and supply chain is set to get a boost, thanks to encouraging business opportunities for those adopting sustainable practices.
 
Apart from protecting the environment and helping the society overall, sustainable practices are also becoming cost-effective, thanks to the fast paced technology evolution in the sector and are becoming instrumental in gaining consumer loyalty and endorsement for the socially and environmentally responsible millennial population. A gradual shift of electronic trucks for transportation, recycling waste and systematic disposal of the chemical and other harmful waste, etc., are soon becoming popular green practices among Indian logistics and supply chain players.
 
Adoption of Technology: 
 
This is another major trend that is set to make considerable impact on the sector. With businesses adopting the emerging technologies like AI, ML, Big Data etc., supply chain industry is no exception to adapting automation in processes and operations. Embracing artificial intelligence has only eased the making of processes more efficient, advantageous and dependable. Technology such as the internet of things (IoT) helps maintain a transparent supply chain network, in turn helping to bring visibility, build customer loyalty and trust. .
 
Given the goals and growth opportunities envisioned by the government: from making India a global manufacturing hub to focus on strengthening the local businesses with ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, ‘Vocal for Local’ and the ‘Start Up India’ powered by a wide spread technology adoption, there is an urgent need to identify and address the existing vulnerabilities at the core of Logistics and Supply chain networks that are the backbone of a strong economy.