NEW DELHI: In the next 15 years, the air cargo industry in India is expected to grow by more than 180 percent, while manufacturing will rise 14 percent by 2022, according to the latest estimates by government officials speaking at the Air Cargo India event that kicked off today in Mumbai.
Speaker Renu Singh Parmar, senior adviser at the country’s Ministry of Civil Aviation, estimated that India’s air cargo throughput would rise from 2.6 million tonnes in 2015 to approximately 8.7 million tonnes by 2030, necessitating an urgent need to improve supply chain logistics and airport infrastructure across the subcontinent.
The Indian government’s “Make in India” campaign, he said, is expected to increase manufacturing’s share of the country’s GDP from the current 15 percent to about 25 percent over the next six years, a goal toward which the government has already made significant progress. For example, India’s air cargo industry has been granted a ten-year tax break for any infrastructure improvements made at an airport. In addition, the industry has made a strong push to adopt paperless air waybill technology, create free-trade zones; build new warehouses an streamline customs processing procedures via its 24/7 Customs operations to help improve the cargo flow at airports.
In 2014, Parmar said, India increased the foreign direct investment caps on airfreight operations to 49 percent without government approval and 74 percent if government approval was sought.“The civil aviation policy is a very forward policy in the search for air cargo, which will also help make the prime minister’s ‘Make in India’ dream come true,” Parmar added.
