New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI): Union minister Piyush Goyal said that the journey from India@75 to India@100 -- meaning 100 years of India's independence -- needs an efficient logistics ecosystem to drive the country through its Amrit Kaal to become Atmanirbhar or a self-reliant.

The minister participated in the one-day workshop on "Logistics Cost Framework" organized by DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in partnership with Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday in the national capital.

The efforts of infrastructure development through several initiatives such as Bharatmala, Sagarmala, Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and the PM GatiShakti Initiative, are expected to bring down India's logistics cost from double-digit to single digit, said Goyal, taking note of India's geography, size and complexities, among others.

He shared that in the last nine years, from being the 10th largest country in terms of GDP, India has now become the 5th largest country in the world.

He reiterated India will become the 3rd largest country (economically) in the coming two-to-three years, through the impactful infrastructure projects that are going to be implemented. He further added that e-commerce, smarter free trade agreements, adopting international quality standards, good manufacturing practices, leveraging on our successful startup ecosystem, utilizing National Education Policy 2020, drone technology, and artificial intelligence, will work towards catalyzing India's development.

"Logistics in India as a policy tool will help achieve 'Serve the world from India' and 'Make in India for the world'," he said.

While sharing his opinion Secretary DPIIT Anurag Jain said, just in four years India's infrastructure is many times better than before. He also shared how PM GatiShakti's national master plan has revolutionized the planning process, adding that it helped in reducing time and cost in DPR preparation and infra projects, and optimum utilization of financial and human resources.

National Master Plan is an approach that enables integrated and synchronised implementation of projects.

It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 13, 2021 with a vision to break departmental silos in government and institutionalize holistic planning for stakeholders across major infrastructure projects.

National Master Plan aims to reduce the cost of logistics in India compared to global benchmarks by 2030, improve the Logistics Performance Index ranking (the endeavour is to be among top 25 countries by 2030), and create a data-driven mechanism for an efficient logistics ecosystem. (ANI)