Mr. Prem Kishan Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director, Gateway Distriparks, “With the Union Budget 2022 set to be announced, we expect the government to focus on investing in infrastructure that will allow for the total cost of logistics to reduce for the end customer. With some sections of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor already operational, we look forward for the entire corridor to be completed connecting NCR and major maritime ports viz., Mundra, Pipavav and Nhava Sheva this year and continue its focus on improving infrastructure by prioritising other corridors like the North-South, East-West as well as the East-South and West South for uninterrupted rail movement of freight trains to facilitate domestic cargo movement. This will enable the logistics industry to keep moving ahead. In addition, there should be investments made towards digitization of supply chain management with a focus on new technologies like IoT.  With the third pandemic wave and uncertain times ahead, the industry is expecting policy support and tax relaxations that will help boost ease of doing business for the industry. The logistics cost in India is around 5 percent more than the global average which leads to a huge competitive gap. The government should take steps to address the supply chain inefficiencies and reduce the gap.”