Piyush Goyal unveils six initiatives to strengthen logistics and trade competitiveness

Marking a decade of the Make in India initiative, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal launched six new initiatives in New Delhi, including the upgraded Logistics Data Bank (LDB) 2.0 and Industrial Park Rating System (IPRS) 3.0.

Goyal highlighted that LDB 2.0 will offer real-time insights into the availability of facilities and infrastructure across India’s logistics ecosystem, enabling better planning, improved efficiency, and reduced costs. Developed by NICDC Logistics Data Services (NLDSL), the platform now features enhanced export container tracking on the high seas, multi-modal shipment visibility, and integration with the Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP). It also provides a live heat map of container distribution across the country, helping industry and policymakers anticipate and resolve potential bottlenecks.

On the industrial front, IPRS 3.0, developed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) with support from the Asian Development Bank, aims to strengthen India’s industrial ecosystem and enhance infrastructure competitiveness. The third edition builds on the pilot in 2018 and IPRS 2.0 in 2021, introducing new evaluation parameters such as sustainability, green infrastructure, logistics connectivity, digitalization, skill linkages, and tenant feedback.

Under this framework, industrial parks will be benchmarked and categorized as leaders, challengers, or aspirers based on key performance indicators. This transparent rating system is expected to attract investors, promote best practices, and drive healthy competition among states and union territories.

Goyal also announced progress under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDC), with 20 plug-and-play industrial parks and smart cities under development—four completed, four under active construction, and the rest in bidding or tendering stages. He emphasized that these initiatives collectively aim to make India’s logistics more efficient, supply chains more resilient, and industrial infrastructure globally competitive.