Assignment 1

Name : Ashwini A Palan

Roll no. MH04010266
Appl. No. 211510005913
 India’s Internal Trade Infrastructure
In India, we have internal trade channels like waterways, railways, airways and roads, ports being a vital part of the network.
Railways
• Indian Railways is among the world’s largest rail network.
• Its route length network is spread over 67,956 kms with
8,479 freight trains, plying 3 million tonnes (MT) of
freight daily from 7,349 stations.
• The railway network is also ideal for long-distance travel
and movement of bulk commodities, apart from being an
energy efficient and economic mode of conveyance and
transport
• Government of India has focused on investing in railway
infrastructure by making investor-friendly policies. It has
moved quickly to enable Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
in railways to improve infrastructure for freight and high-
speed trains.
Waterways
• The Inland Water Transport (IWT) has an
important role to play in many parts of the
country since it offers an economic, energy
efficient, employment intensive and almost
pollutant free mode of transport service.
• There are about 14,500 kms of navigable
waterways in India. Out of these about 5,7km is
navigable by mechanized vessels.
• In spite of the merits of IWT, its operation is
constrained by several factors like shallow water,
narrow width during dry weather, siltation and
• An Inland Port is located inland, far from seaport terminals.
bank erosion, inadequate vertical and horizontal
clearances in a large number of overhead
• It is located where the processing of trade can be shifted from structures making navigation throughout the year
the national borders and where multiple modes of a daunting task.
transportation and a wide variety of services are offered at a
common location.
• They supply regions with an intermodal terminal or a merging Cargo moved in Tonne
point for transportation modes of rail, air and truck routes
involved in distributing merchandise that comes from water 800
ports. 700
600
• International operations are supported at an inland port
500
when customs clearance and Foreign-Trade Zone capabilities
are available. Inland ports that provide value-added services 400
in addition to trade processing will support industry efforts to 300
create more efficient supply chains. 200
• Inland ports have the capability to create local employment, 100
enhance corridor efficiencies, and reduce costs—both private 0
and social—at border points of entry. 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18
Capabilities Capabilities
• Coverage across the country • No limited of size of goods
• Affordable • Cost effective
• Lesser time than other modes • Comparatively low pollution
• Availability • Congestion free
Limitations Limitation
• Safety • Less investment
• Operational Inefficiencies • Seasonality of water flows
• Technological Upgradation • Higher water salinity
• Quality of service • Unidirectional commodity traffic
• Capacity constraints
• Reliability of assets

Railways Waterways

Capabilities
• Elimination of transportation-related wastes
• Provision of a shared location for all partners
• Reduction of some link inefficiencies
• Incorporation of value addition processes
Limitations
• Physical infrastructure
• Proximity to suppliers and customers
• Political and tax considerations

Inland Ports
Solution to overcome the Challenges

• In the short to medium term, the emphasis would be to remove bottlenecks and create capacity quickly. This would be achieved by providing freight bypasses in the
large cities, by identifying and completing traffic facility works such as splitting of block sections, removal of conflicting movements and improvement of terminal
facilities, etc.
• Effort would be directed towards opening alternate routes to the busy through gauge conversion or by closing missing links, if any.
• In the long run segregation of passenger and freight routes and substantial segregation on most of the busy routes would be the goal.
• Project execution capability would be strengthened.
• Port connectivity works would be taken up on priority in partnership with ports and other major users.
• A mechanism for mobilizing the support of State Governments towards capital costs and sharing of operational losses will be institutionalized.
• Segregations between commuter and non-commuter lines in large cities with population exceeding one million shall be achieved by partnership with state
governments and city authorities.
• All construction projects would be executed by use of modern technology and construction equipment. Emphasis would be to create maintenance-free, economic
and durable assets.
• Mechanized maintenance would be adopted to maintain the health of the track assets and provide reliable, uninterrupted service.
• PPP will be used for efficient execution of projects especially in areas like construction of world-class stations, multi-modal logistics parks, cold-chain facilities and
connectivity to ports/industrial clusters

Source: Indian vision report

 Growth Drivers Future Scope

• Quality of infrastructure is among the biggest hurdles in India’s

• Investment in Infrastructure for internal trade will facilitate the growth in internal trade which aims to improve the nation’s transport
these modes of transportation
capabilities and support higher growth for generating employment.
• Need of responsive supply chains, this will encourage many users to focus on • Infrastructure development can not only help remove some of these
the transportation to lower the costs.
inefficiencies contributing immediately to economic expansion, but
• Consumption of population also support stronger long-term growth. India’s infrastructure
• Alternatives to modes of transportation bottleneck is a primary constraint to improving its global
competitiveness, as measured by the World Economic Forum’s Global
• Growth of economy
Competitiveness Index.
• Government policies and initiatives • By improving the quality of infrastructure of these modes and
increasing the connectivity across the country, it will lead the country
in the world every aspect. It will also help international trade and
incoming foreign capital in the country
Thank you