Export priorities for Assam

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) setting a target of increasing exports from Assam from the current volume of 0.5 million MT to 3 million MT over the next two years sounds ambitious but is achievable given the progress in logistics and connectivity. The Assam Logistics and Warehousing Policy, 2022, offers the framework required to build the required ecosystem to achieve the target. Strengthening of the inland water operations at Pandu and Dhurbi river ports has boosted the confidence of the nodal agency of inland waterways to boost cargo exports from Assam and other states in the northeastern region. Assam improving its rank at the bottom of 21 major states in the logistics index in 2021 to 15th rank in 2022 is reflective of the progress made in the sector, which has triggered hopes among industry stakeholders. IWAI estimates that boosting cargo exports to the target set will generate at least 73,000 mandays of employment, which is good news for youth in the region. It envisages a public-private partnership (PPP) model for improving efficiency in the operation and management of the two ports and cargo movement. The PPP model, already executed at Haldia and Kolkata, allows handing over operations and management of the river and sea ports to private contractors, with IWT retaining absolute control over the ports. The availability of required depth along the Brahmaputra year-round, more particularly during the dry season, for smooth and seamless movement of cargo is crucial for converting the targeted goals into achievement. Early commissioning of the country’s first Multimodal Logistics Park (MMLP) at Jogighopa in Goalpara will help boost exports using waterways in India and the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route. The park is being developed under the ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojana of the government. The MMLP being developed by the Bharatmala Pariyojana of the Central Government is spread over 317 acres of land along the Brahmaputra that will be connected to roads, rail, air, and waterways. The Jetty of the MMLP is targeted to be completed this year, which has triggered fresh hopes among exporters as far as export logistics are concerned. IWT claims that the various charges for loading and unloading cargo in the two ports under the PPP model were decided with due consultation with the stakeholders, and accordingly, the rates were fixed. These rates include advanced mechanical handling equipment to increase the efficiency of the loading and unloading of cargo at terminals with a more transparent and professional logistics system. Diversifying and putting more agricultural produce in Assam’s export basket is essential to derive optimal benefits from improving logistics and connectivity. About 70% of the state workforce is engaged in agriculture, but small, marginal landholdings come in the way of production at the export scale despite the location advantage of the state and the region due to proximity to South Asian and Southeast Asian countries. Apart from improving connectivity from agriculture growth clusters to export hubs, the construction of an adequate number of warehouses, cold storage, and cold chain facilities is essential to attract investors. The gap that exists explains why follow-up consignments to the first and breakthrough export consignments of several agricultural products from the state and region are often delayed or irregular, making the buyers at the export destination lose interest in placing a fresh order and looking for alternative markets to source the same produce. Assam’s first air cargo consignment of fresh fruits reaching Singapore directly from Guwahati in August in just four-and-a-half hours speaks volumes about the location advantage the state and the region have for boosting exports by leveraging trans-border connectivity under India’s Act East and Neighbourhood First policy. There is, however, no room for complacency in breakthrough export consignments of agri-horti produce without ensuring that subsequent consignments will be transhipped in time to meet the requirements of importers. Discontinuation or delay in export consignment also makes entire efforts put into marketing by showcasing the potential, demonstrating the quality of produce, and securing export orders from importers go to waste, and stakeholders who came forward to play their part also start losing interest, which is unwarranted and needs to be addressed. In one of its recent reports on the development of trade and industries in Northeast India, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce observed that only Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi International Airport in Guwahati has both domestic and international cargo facilities, along with a cold storage facility, and the rest of the airports in the region either handle cargo through domestic passenger terminals or have no air cargo facilities. The development of cold storage and cargo facilities at other airports and other areas of the state will also facilitate increasing the volume of transhipment of export cargo using waterways, railways, and roadways. The convergence of production of exportable quality agricultural and industrial produce with logistics, connectivity, and construction for storage, scaling up, and aggregating production will make export dreams come true.