India loses $6.6 billion due to transportation delays in freight: report

New Delhi: India annually loses $6.6 billion due to transportation delays of freight, shows a comparison study of the survey data for the calendar years 2008-09, 2011-12 and 2014-15 by the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, commissioned by Transport Corporation of India (TCI).

That’s not all. These delays costs $14 billion per year on account of the fuel consumption.

The finding were presented on Tuesday by the IIM Calcutta professor Subrata Mitra before transport minister Nitin Gadkari and the media while releasing the study “Operational efficiency of freight transportation by road in India”.

The study shows that while the average journey time and average vehicle speed have improved over the years, the average mileage of vehicles has remained almost same in the India.

Among the 26 routes studies, one common observation was that for routes covering the eastern and north-eastern parts of the country average vehicle speeds were lower and average stoppage delays were higher than the corresponding national average due to poor road conditions, more stops and long queues.

The report says that although the average journey time and vehicle speed have improved across all the major routes, more needs to be done to reduce stoppage delays as this not only leads to wastage of time but also raises fuel consumption cost. Besides improving the toll collection infrastructure, the number of stops for various other purpose, such as documentation check and tax collection at state borders/check posts and on-road police intervention, should be minimized and the process of document checking and tax collection simplified to facilitate a smooth and seamless flow of goods across the country.