Express Delivery Services

Supporting the Journey towards India@2047

Arpita Mukherjee‚ Atul Sanganeria‚ Ramneet Goswami

The growth of domestic and international trade created the need for just-in-time fast-track deliveries, which led to the growth of the express delivery services (EDS) industry. The EDS industry provides integrated door-to-door transport of documents and products and plays an important role in connecting enterprises, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to the global value chains. This report presents how EDS can support India in achieving its growth targets as it embarks upon its journey towards Amrit Kaal – or India @ 2047. It identifies the regulatory, infrastructure, technology and manpower related barriers and makes recommendations on how to develop India as an express delivery hub, enhance exports, attract investments, create employment and attain high and inclusive growth.

Excellent Report! There is a need to ease the regulatory hassles to achieve the milestones, and the right approach is to forego the value limits on exports as suggested by this report.
— Dr John Joseph
Special Secretary (Retd.), Government of India

The express delivery industry unquestionably provides an essential service; its contribution to swift movement of life saving medicines, vaccines, etc., has been especially critical during the pandemic. Measures already taken to facilitate this industry are appreciable but these have largely been ad hoc, piecemeal and time consuming. It is imperative Government works closely with EICI on this Vision document to support this industry and economic growth and also on establishing a Single Window for comprehensive, coordinated and time-bound action on all matters – regulatory, infrastructure, skilling, etc. This would be a win-win for this vital industry and all stakeholders, especially the MSMEs.
— Sandeep M. Bhatnagar
Ex-Member Customs, CBIC

This study lucidly brings out various growth drivers, and opportunities from new users and digital and technological advances that have been propelling a faster growth of EDS through road and air transportation in India in the last decade. Identification of challenges and barriers in realising the Vision for India@2047 entailing an annual growth rate of EDS of 18-21 per cent, has been supplemented with actionable recommendations to bridge them. Besides national and local-level regulatory gaps and overcoming infrastructural and technological barriers, skill development has also been emphasised. Notably, the study usefully brings out signs of entry of Indian businesses in international cross-trades and emergence of competitively-priced Indian rail long-haul domestic transportation and trans-continental global rail systems.
— Vandana Aggarwal,
Former Senior Economic Adviser, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India