Washington: India with a Logistics Performance Indicators (LPI) score of 3.08 was ranked 46th in the bank's latest survey of international freight forwarders and express carriers.
Singapore with a score of 4.12 listed as the top performer among the 155 economies included in the survey.
In 2010 India was ranked 47th with an LPI score of 3.12. However in the context of global recession the World Bank singles out Chile, China, India, Morocco, South Africa and the US as countries which have continued to improve. As the report says: "Against others in their income group, the most overperforming non-high-income countries are Vietnam, India, China, and South Africa."
"All top performers show strong cooperation between the public and private sectors, and a comprehensive approach in the development of services, infrastructure and efficient logistics," said Mona Haddad, sector manager in the World Bank's international trade department.
"Infrastructure stands out as the chief driver of progress in top performers, followed by improvements in logistics services, and customs and border management," Haddad added.
Trade logisitics refers to the capacity of countries to efficiently move goods and connect manufacturers and consumers with international markets which spur faster economic growth and help firms benefit from trade recovery.
Trade logistics is therefore key to economic competitiveness, growth, and poverty reduction.
The LPI is an interactive benchmarking tool created by the bank to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in their performance on trade logistics and what they can do to improve their performance.
As a multidimensional assessment of performance, the LPI compares the trade logistics profiles of 155 countries and rates them on a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best). The LPI's six components include the efficiency of the clearance process (speed, simplicity, and predictability of formalities) by border control agencies, including customs, and the quality of trade and transport-related infrastructure (ports, railroads, roads, information technology).
Other factors are the ease of arranging competitively priced shipments and the competence and quality of logistics services (transport operators, customs brokers) and the ability to track and trace consignments and the frequency with which shipments reach the consignee within the scheduled or expected delivery time.
According to the bank's "Connecting to Compete 2012: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy" report, high income economies dominate the top logistics rankings, while the economies with the worst performance are least developed countries that are also often landlocked, small islands, or post-conflict states.
In the upper-middle income country category, top performers include South Africa, China and Turkey.
In the lower-middle income category, India, Morocco and the Philippines have above average performance improvements. And among low-income countries, outperformers included Benin, Malawi and Madagascar.
The survey suggested that a country create sustainable improvements in its logistical capabilities only by fostering cooperation between the public and private sectors, and by considering the impact of all agencies on the supply chain.
Source: IANS
