A seminar on ‘Enhancing India’s Competitiveness through logistics and Supply Chain Efficiency’ was organised by Dun & Bradstreet Tangram Advisory Services
The UK is keen to collaborate with India on skill development to make the Skill India campaign a success. Recently, the senior-most Indian-origin member of the British government Priti Patel has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UK has deepened the bonds between the two countries. She emphasised on collaboration in skill development.
A seminar on ‘Enhancing India’s Competitiveness through logistics and Supply Chain Efficiency’ was organised by Dun & Bradstreet Tangram Advisory Services Private limited in Mumbai. During the seminar, SK Goel, ex-additional chief secretary, Agriculture and Marketing, Government of Maharashtra pointed out that, “There is a need to connect the dots in the food value chain. The Government cannot do it, organised retailers, processors are the most capable to do the same. The question that we need to answer is why are big corporate of India not thinking about value chain and product branding. Our corporate should develop a vision for value chain where all fruits and vegetables can reach the doorstep of the consumers.”
Focussing specifically on where the UK can contribute, the discussions show that there is scope to have specialised training for food supply chain logistics within the ambit of the existing training centres such as the CII Institute of logistics.
In his key note address, NC Saha, director and principal executive officer, Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), said, “India is importing packaging machinery from countries like Italy and Germany but it is exporting packaging materials. The technology is available in India but the issues are related to its acceptability and adaptability. Although India is a major exporter of tea, only 10 per cent value addition for export is done in the country. 70 per cent of the green bean coffee is exported in gunny bags. This is a cause for concern. To address this, the department of commerce along with IIP is focussing on technical specifications for export. The IIP aims to draw specification for 500 export products within the next five years and have already completed the job for 28 products.”
On the sidelines of the event Dipankar De, partner, Dun & Bradstreet Tangram Advisory Services Private limited pointed out that, “India largely follows the UK education system and training patterns, which make skill development a key area for collaboration between the two countries. Further, India and the UK have demographic complementarities. It is projected that by 2025, India will have 25 per cent of the world’s total workforce while the UK is struggling with an ageing population. Trained workforce from India can help the UK meet its labour demands. In terms of training and skill development, only around five per cent of the total workforce in India has formal skill training while in the UK, 68 per cent of the population has formal training. Thus, India can learn from the UK on how to train its workforce.”
Arpita Mukherjee, professor, ICRIER, pointed out that, “We have done a survey-based study on Mega Food Parks and food supply chains. We found that there are shortages of skilled workers to handle automated warehouses, run refrigerated vehicles, operate forklifts and operate mutt-temperature controlled cold chains, among others. Also, there are shortages of skilled workforce in the allied sectors such as food packaging.”
There is lack of skills and mishandling by logistics service providers across the food supply chain which is causing pilerferages and damages. With food wastage levels being as high as 40 per cent, government has also recognised the urgent need to improve the skill levels in the food supply chain.
She also pointed out that there is a huge scope of collaboration between India and the UK in specific segments of skill development in food logistics. These include designing course curriculum and on line training modules. In areas like warehouse management systems and handling of perishables, the UK companies can offer online training modules with illustrated graphics for effective learning.
A website on food logistics supply chain, www.foodlogistics.in was launched at the event. The event also included the launch of a book titled Trade in Services and Trade Agreements: Perspectives from India and the European Union edited by Arpita Mukherjee, ICRIER, Rupa Chanda, IIM Bangalore and Tanu M Goyal, ICRIER and published by SAGE Publications