Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
Punjab: State of Possibilities Punjab has an area of 50,362 sq. km and is located in the northern part of the country. It is bordered by the Pakistani province of Punjab to its west, Jammu and Kashmir in the north Himachal Pradesh in the northeast, Haryana in the south and southeast, and Rajasthan in the southwest. The State sits strategically in northern India and has emerged as a hub for agriculture and industrial development in the region. The strong economic foundation of the State was laid in early 1960s with the advent of the Green Revolution and made Punjab a hub of micro, small and medium enterprise. The State is now on the brink of the transition to a new culture of innovation and technology-driven ecosystem. The State’s GSDP increased at a compound annual growth rate of 6.78% between 2015-16 and 2020-212. The major industries in Punjab include agro-based industries, machinery and hand tools, automobiles and auto parts, food processing, yarns and textile, hosiery. Given its size and geography, Punjab has been performing decently on the export front. As per the latest data available, the State ranked 13th on the export ranking table with exports amounting to US$ 6.06 billion3 and a share of 2 per cent in country’s exports. Punjab has been ranked at the 8th place in the Export Preparedness Index (EPI), 2021 up from 18th position in 2020 and has risen to 4th position under “landlocked states”, up from 8th position in 2020.4 To give a boost to the manufacturing and service sector and thereby facilitating trade, the State Government has identified the need and potential for development of its logistics sector, as per the Industrial and Business Development Policy, 2017. Under this policy, several incentives are offered for the development of infrastructure comprising of MMLP, custom ports, cold storages, bulk courier services, custom bonded warehousing to mention a few. In addition to this, Logistics is also considered to be one of the thrust sectors. The State has actively been encouraging district to become export hubs for boosting rural economic growth, making local products more attractive for the consumers across the world and supporting employment generation through empowering of MSME sector. To make the environment conducive MSMEs, it is extremely important to understand the market demand and barriers and address issues related to connectivity and logistics. The State has recently undertaken “State Export Plan” initiative with the vision to transform every district into an export powerhouse, create institutional mechanism to promote trade and connect rural and urban economies seamlessly while promoting sustainable and economic development. The prominent industrial clusters of Punjab are as following: 2 Punjab State Presentation Report, IBEF, August 2021 3 Export Analysis and Export Vision: Punjab (2021-26) 4 Export Preparedness Index, 2020 and 2021, NITI Aayog 11 | P a g e Integrated Logistics & Logistics Park Policy 2023 The State is well connected to its neighbouring states and the rest of the country through 15 national highways. The State has a robust network of national highways of length 3,228 kms, state highways of length 1,103 kms and road length of 1,39,492 kms5. The State’s railway network is more than two times that of the country’s average rail density. A well-developed network for Indian railways of length 2,269 kms also exists and accounts for 3.4% of total railway network in India6. The State has well developed and robust connectivity with 4 domestic and 2 international airports. In 2020-21, Amritsar and Chandigarh Airport alone handled 1,253 MT and 8,069 MT of freight7. Despite strong footing in agriculture and industries and proximity to major states and national capital, the value the goods fetch falls short of its potential. Issues such as uneven development of roads, last mile connectivity, lack of storage & reefer facilities and inefficient modal mix etc. affect the logistics sector. Hence, to build an efficient and effective logistics sectors in Punjab, it is essential to formulate a comprehensive logistics policy. 5 Punjab Economic Survey (2020-2021) 6 Punjab Economic Survey (2020-2021) 7 Punjab State Report-June 2021, IBEF Figure 1: Industrial Clusters of Punjab 12 | P a g e Integrated Logistics & Logistics Park Policy 2023 4.1 Current Industrial Infrastructure in the State A. Industrial Corridors Industrial Infrastructure is one of the key mainstays in the long-term development of the industry. The Government aims to develop robust infrastructure including core and supporting infrastructure which shall provide long term benefits to the industry and set the State on the path of planned industrial growth. The State has planned to develop one major industrial corridor, i.e., Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor in area falling along the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) as major industrial hub. It will cover important towns of Rajpura, Sirhind, Doraha, Sahnewal and Ludhiana. The State has already identified various land parcels for the purpose of setting up Industrial areas along AKIC. A 2 km stretch on both sides of state highways/ expressways and/or industrial corridors outside municipal limits shall be demarcated for the development of logistics facilities. The State shall explore the development of areas around the below mentioned projects by identifying land parcels for the development of logistics parks and allied infrastructure. The State has planned following multiple intra-state corridors: Chandigarh-Amritsar Industrial Corridor: It is an important urban industrial corridor. The State will strengthen the existing industrial clusters on this corridor. The State would further carry out the feasibility of various identified land pockets on this corridor and develop new Industrial Parks and Industrial Townships along this corridor. Chandigarh-Hoshiarpur-Gurdaspur Industrial Corridor: The Development of Chandigarh-Hoshiarpur-Gurdaspur Industrial corridor will give a fillip to Kandi Area and Border Area. The State would further carry out the feasibility of various identified land pockets on this corridor and develop new Industrial Parks and Industrial Townships along this corridor. Chandigarh-Patiala-Sangrur-Bathinda Corridor: The development of Chandigarh- Patiala-Sangrur-Bathinda corridor will ensure development of industrial infrastructure in Malwa region of the State and provide employment opportunities to youth in this region. The Amritsar-Jamnagar Expressway: The development of Amritsar- Jamnagar Expressway is part of the top nine priority economic corridors to be linked through expressways under the Bharatmala scheme. The expressway would pass through Faridkot, Batinda and Abohar in Punjab; Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner, Nagaur and Jodhpur in Rajasthan; and Radhanpur, Samkhiyali and Jamnagar in Gujarat. The Amritsar-Katra Expressway: The NHAI’s 650-kilometer Delhi – Amritsar – Katra (DAK) expressway project, which is under Bharatmala Pariyojana connects Jasaur Kheri, Jhajjar District near Delhi, with Katra, north of Jammu city. Development of Economic Corridors along major rivers such as Ravi, Beas and Sutlej: The State will explore canalisation of major rivers namely Ravi, Beas and Sutlej and construct high speed economic corridors along these rivers to attract industry and investment, which will develop these areas and provide jobs and growth opportunities to local people. B. Rail Freight Corridor: The rail freight corridor is a high speed and high-capacity railway corridor exclusively meant for transportation of goods and commodities. The construction of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor will allow seamless integration of better infrastructure and state of art technology. The 13 | P a g e Integrated Logistics & Logistics Park Policy 2023 EDFC will initiate at Sahnewal (Ludhiana) in Punjab, connect with WDFC at Dadri (UP) and will provide connectivity to both western ports of Mundra, JNPT, Pipavav, Kandla and eastern port of Kolkata as EDFC’s current alignment ends at Dankuni in West Bengal. EDFC will cover almost 88 kms in the State of Punjab and will be an electrified single-track segment of 447 kms between Ludhiana-Khujra and Dadri. The main features of the corridor are as follows8: It will facilitate movement of coal for power plants, ores, finished steel, food grains, cement, fertilizers, limestone, and general goods Total route length: 1,856 km covering states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. 88 km route is in Punjab having 6 stations: New Chawapail, New Khanna, New Mandigobindgarh, New Sirhind, New Saraibanjara, New Shambhu, as loading and unloading points. It will also lead to decongestion of roads by shifting of freight to more efficient rail transport system. 8 New Railways, New Punjab: Railways Development in Punjab (2014-Present), Indian Railways Figure 2: Dedicated Freight Corridors (Eastern & Western) 14 | P a g e Integrated Logistics & Logistics Park Policy 2023 C. Storage, Warehousing and Transportation The State has presence of several ICDs (Inland Container Depots) and CFSs (Container Freight Stations) developed at: ICD Punjab State Warehousing Corporation Ltd, Focal Point, Dhandari Kalan, Ludhiana ICD Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR), Focal Point, Dhandari Kalan, Ludhiana ICD Pristine Mega Logistics Park Pvt. Ltd, Village Chawapail, Ludhiana ICD Punjab State Warehousing Corporation Ltd, Dappar, Mohali ICD Punjab State Warehousing Corporation Ltd., Jalandhar ICD Punjab Logistics Infrastructure Ltd (PLIL), Ahmadgarh ICD Adani Logistics Ltd, Kila Raipur, Ludhiana M/s Overseas Warehousing Pvt. Ltd, Ludhiana: Container Freight Station linked to PSWC, ICD, Ludhiana ICD-Hind Terminals Pvt. Ltd., Kila Raipur, Ludhiana, Punjab The State has presence of 6 PFTs9 (Private Freight Terminals) M/s Gateway Rail Freight Ltd-PGFS, Sanhewal M/s Punjab Logistics Infrastructure Ltd. GFPA, Ahmadgarh M/s Pristine Mega Logistics Park Private Ltd., Chawapail M/s Adani Logistics Pvt. Ltd., Kila Raipur M/s Hind Terminal Pvt. Ltd. Kila Raipur M/s Central Warehousing Corporation, Nabha The State has presence of Integrated Check Posts (ICP)/ Land Customs Station (LCS) Integrated Check Posts, Attari Integrated Check Posts, Dera Baba Nanak, Kartarpur LCS Attari Rail, Attari The State has presence of 2 Air Cargo Complexes (ACC) Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Chandigarh Shri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, Amritsar D. Logistics Parks To improve the logistics efficiency in the country, the MoRTH has planned to develop state of art Multi-Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) across the nation under Logistics Efficiency Enhancement program (LEEP). The Parks under the MoRTH with minimum area of 100 acres will comprise of specialized storage facilities like cold storage, mechanized and integrated warehouses, integrated technology, mechanized material handling and inter modal transfers of containers and cargo from different carrier mediums. For the state of Punjab, the policy envisages MMLP’s for Jalandhar, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, Sangrur and Patiala making the state a northern hub. At present, notable MMLPs in State are: Punjab Logistics Infrastructure Limited, Ludhiana Hind Terminal, Ludhiana Adani Logistics, Ludhiana 9 Many of the PFTs are notified as custom ports 15 | P a g e Integrated Logistics & Logistics Park Policy 2023 The State of Punjab has 9 Custom Ports, 6 Private Freight Terminals, 3 Integrated Check Posts/ Land Custom Station, 2 Air Cargo Complex and 3 MMLPs 16 | P a g e Integrated Logistics & Logistics Park Policy 2023