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High logistics costs burden several Indian regions: Report
Cold-chain infrastructure remains limited, with around 8,815 storage facilities and a capacity of 40.21 million metric tonnes, the March 2026 report, titled ‘Transforming India’s logistics ecosystem’, noted.
Despite India’s national average logistics cost being down to 7.97 per cent of GDP from 14 per cent earlier, several regions face significantly higher logistics costs due to uneven infrastructure and connectivity, a FICCI-Grant Thornton report said.
Cold-chain infrastructure remains limited.
Non-standard warehousing causes delays, higher costs and inconsistent supply-chain performance, it noted.
As planning was historically fragmented across departments, deep alignment gaps remain.
Non-standard warehousing causes delays, higher costs and inconsistent supply-chain performance, it remarked.
Due to cold chain imbalance and reefer underuse, state-level demand mismatches persist, while refrigerated transport remains significantly underutilised nationwide.
Persistent structural challenges include fragmented infrastructure and limited multimodal integration; continued dependence on road-based freight due to coordination gaps across transport modes; limited adoption of automation; and labour-intensive warehousing and logistics operations, resulting in higher error rates, longer turnaround times and limited scalability, according to the report.
Technology is becoming central to logistics planning and execution, with artificial intelligence-driven demand forecasting and routing, digital twins for warehouse and network design, and IoT-enabled visibility across storage and transport improving decision making, the report added.
Control tower models are enabling real-time coordination and faster response to disruptions, while platforms like ULIP provide the digital backbone for interoperable, multimodal logistics, the report mentioned.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)