A
MINI PROJECT REPORT
ON
Study on challenges faced by logistics industry in
India during post covid scenario
Submitted for the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award
Of
Post Graduate Diploma in Management
Batch 2021-23
SUBMITTED BY
Kashif Khan
GNIOT/GIMS/21/234
Faculty Guide: Industry Guide:
Prof. G. S. Sharma
Assistant professor
OB & HRM
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this Summer Internship Project Report titled “Study on challenges faced by
logistics industry in India during post covid scenario” submitted by me to GNIOT Institute of
Management Studies (GIMS), Greater Noida is a bonafide work undertaken during the period
from 00/12/2022to00/12/2022, by me and has not been submitted to any other University or
Institution for the award of any degree diploma / certificate or published any time before.
(Signature of the Student) Date: / / 2022
Name: Kashif khan
Enroll. No.: GNIOT/GIMS/21/234
BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that as per best of my belief the project entitled “Study on challenges faced by
logistics industry in India during post covid scenario” is the bonafide research work carried
out by Kashif Khan; GNIOT/GIMS/21/234 student of Post Graduate Diploma in Management
(PGDM), GNIOT Institute of Management Studies (GIMS), Greater Noida, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the Mini Project Report for the award of Post Graduate Diploma in
Management (PGDM).
He / She has worked under my guidance.
I wish him/her success in all his/her future career endeavors.
___________________
Signature with Date
Faculty Mentor’s
Name: Prof G.S Sharma
Designation: OB &
HRM
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I offer my sincere thanks and humble regards to GNIOT Institute of Management Studies
(GIMS), Greater Noida for imparting me the valuable professional internship during the Post
Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) programme.
I pay my gratitude and sincere regards to Prof.G.S.Shrama, my project Guide for giving me the
cream of their knowledge. I am thankful to them as they have been a constant source of advice,
motivation and inspiration. I am also thankful to their for giving his suggestions and
encouragement throughout the project work.
I also thank my industry mentor for their constant support and guidance through the period of
my report without which this work would not have been possible.
I take the opportunity to express my gratitude and thanks to our computer Lab staff and library
staff for providing me an opportunity to utilize their resources for the completion of the
project.
I am also thankful to my family and friends for constantly motivating me to complete the project
and providing me an environment, which enhanced my knowledge.
Date: / / 2022
Name: Kashif Khan
Enroll. No. GNIOT/GIMS/21/234
Course: PGDM (V-Trimester)
(Signature of the Student)
Executive Summary
India currently has one of the world's fastest expanding economies.
Infrastructure expansion, a thriving manufacturing sector, EXIM commerce, retail, and
agricultural-related industries all contribute to this growth.
among other things, activities As a result, there is now a greater need in India for top-notch
logistics and warehousing services, which has spurred the expansion and evolution of this
industry. The logistics industry has experienced exceptional CAGR growth of 8%. The business,
which was valued at USD 125 billion in 2010, is anticipated to keep growing over the next three
to five years.
In the last two to three years, the government and commercial sectors have paid extra attention to
logistics due to increased disposable income and changing lifestyles.
The report identifies ten such strategic growth areas of Indian logistics sector which includes:
1. Air Cargo Logistics 6. Sea Ports
2. Cold Chain / Cold Storage 7. Warehouse
3. ICD / CFS 8. Logistics Parks
4. Third Party Logistics 9. Relocation
5. Road Transport Service 10. Courier
The ten strategic components listed above are examined in depth using information on each
industry sector that was gathered through
trustworthy sources. This research is more advanced in its grasp of the strategic components of
the Indian logistics industry because it explores each component in depth and identifies prospects
rather than quickly summarizing the logistics environment by giving facts, figures, and recent
changes. The study offers information that can be utilized to comprehend the industry and
evaluate the availability of investment opportunities in a specific industry. The logistics sector's
major problem right now is to become more efficient and cost-effective in order to boost India's
overall cost arbitrage. The paper also looks at how India may boost its efficiency and guarantee
more controlled and planned economic growth.
Abstract
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having a clear impact on the supply chains of virtually
all manufacturers. Whether frozen foods and grocery items or emergency item, or even the
services the supply chain has been facing multiple obstacles.
For manufacturing industries with complex supply chains, it is indeed critical to identify
strategies to deal with such a crisis. With demand high and supply unavailable some products
became more desirable causing price hikes and price extorting because the manufacturing sectors
are facing some barriers during lockdown.
This research has identified the five essential barriers of supply chain such as lack of man power,
local laws enforcement, lack of transportation, scarcity of raw materials and deficiency in cash
flow for Indian manufacturing sectors during lockdown.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Organization information
3 Review literature
4 Research & Mythology
5 Data Analysis & Interpretation
6 Conclusion, Suggestion & Recommendation
7 Bibliography
Introduction
Pneumonia of unknown cause was detected in the city of Wuhan, China, on December 31, 2019,
which was named as COVID-19, short of “coronavirus disease 2019″ by world health
organization (WHO). prediction of the global pandemic came right when WHO characterized it
as a pandemic on March 11, 2020 . From February 11 to April 14, the number of confirmed
cases infected with COVID-19 in the world rose from 45,134 to 2,004,383 in 210 countries. The
virus is spreading through an infected person coughs or sneezes or droplets of saliva or expulsion
from the nose. So, it becomes critical to quarantine and to maintain social distancing to slow
down the transmission, countries around the world imposed a travel ban, and announced Nation
wise lockdown and restricted the movement of citizens. Due to lockdown and limited movement,
distribution centers are suddenly become inaccessible that disrupted the entire supply chain. A
similar kind of situation was observed during 2003 when the sudden outbreak of severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) impacted 26 countries and disrupted the logistics services. The
impact of this lockdown brought a significant disruption, as 94% of the Fortune 1000 companies
and many small & medium-size enterprises have reported risk in SC due to uncertainty .Supply
chain risk has been defined as an unplanned and unexpected incident that disrupts the flow of
goods or services within the SC .distinguished COVID-19 from other SC disruptions and
explained it in terms of seven dimensions (geography, scope, demand & supply, prior planning
& experience, financial system, term, and human impact & behavior) .reported this epidemic
outbreak as a special case of SC risk that will exist for a long duration, propagate with high
uncertainty, and impact the logistics infrastructure.
In logistics, retailers are considered as an integrated part of the SC who is closet to
consumers .whose role becomes crucial as they may come under high pressure to supply the
essential goods .It becomes critical to distribute products quickly and efficiently from uninfected
distribution centers to retail stores .As the Covid spreading continuously, the supply of the
essential goods to protect the health of consumers becomes challenging as compared to normal
conditions .reported retail stores are facing capacity constraints and excess demand problems due
to changing circumstances. Retail organizations around the world like Deloitte, KPMG, Nielsen,
Forbes, and IDC are also expressing the difficulties faced by their retail store due to
the coronavirus epidemic. Research suggests that technology adoption can play a significant role
in controlling the pandemic situations. that provide flexibility, visibility, trackability and
reliability in a system and have also explained the use of Industry 4.0, AI, and IoT technologies
in dealing with COVID-19 pandemic. This motivated the need to know the answers to essential
research questions what are the challenges faced by the retail industries to serve the consumers
and how these challenges can be overcome using Industry 4.0. As per the above research
question, this research work aimed at identifying the challenges faced by the retailer during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Supply Chain Logistics
India is facing several challenges amid country-wide lockdown. Many industries have been
severely affected. One of them is logistics and supply chain management. Shortage of labour,
cargo capacity challenges, the slowdown in manufacturing, order delays, stuck shipments as well
as demand and supply shocks have affected the logistics segment to the core.
The manufacturing halt has reduced demand for logistics services, which has brought down the
pressure on prices across warehousing, freight and logistics. Due to lockdown in surrounding
countries, minimal export-import movements during this time have amplified the crisis in the
logistics space. Restrictions on air travel and international flights globally have contributed to the
slowdown in the movement of goods and brought first and last-mile transportation and
intermodal movement of goods to a standstill. Reduction in the capacity of vessels and shortages
in the equipment to deliver the goods, related to disruptions has had a major impact on the intra-
Asia trade lanes. A rapid and sudden drop in freight volumes has prompted major carriers to
report service cancellations and delays and ultimately empty sailings to and from India, the
Middle East and the Mediterranean took place.
But in a post-COVID-19 world, the scenario of logistics and supply chain segment will be totally
different and supply chain stress tests will become a new norm. India’s supply chains will go
through huge transformations to challenge the demand and supply frameworks in the coming few
years. Also, people are responding in a variety of ways and having different attitudes, behaviors
and purchasing habits.
According to a recent industry report of India’s leading logistics intelligence platform Logistics
Now, a timeline of at least 1-2 months will be required for the logistics industry to recover post
lifting of the lockdown. The key recommendations are to unlock inventories for retail consumers;
increase transport and distribution capacity for the vaccine; build citizen information systems
(CIS) powered by artificial intelligence (AI); build digital supply chains and logistics, mandate
and further drive digital payments, etc. alongside supporting the economy through the usage of
advanced technology.
The most important change will be the rise of domestic sourcing to make supply chains more
local. Post lockdown, the role of government policies to promote domestic manufacturing
companies should increase and this will push the establishment of global value chains in India to
not only serve domestic markets but also export markets. Companies should start building more
safety stock in their distribution pipelines to gain risk management and mitigation in supply
chains. This will increase in more warehousing space across networks. The practice of
developing, implementing multiple and robust contingency plans will be taken more seriously.
As there will be more variables in volumes, supply chains will start becoming more adaptive,
especially large suppliers and logistics operators in the supply chain industry must prepare for
major catastrophic events such as weather-related calamities, upcoming lethal pandemic
outbreaks, strikes, social unrest and associated disruptions. Digital transformation of the industry
will be hastened. Every element of the logistics process whether it is planning or execution
would be reconsidered, repurposed and digitized. In most of the industries, comprehensive
dashboards have been produced that states the full status of production and shipment, down to
the last detail. Such technology will inevitably emerge as a norm in the coming days.
To prevent the spread of the virus, the number of touch-points any product goes through during
the entire supply chain—from production to handling till the doorstep of businesses and homes
—will be reduced drastically. Rapid automation in handling systems and management including
palletization of cargo, conveyor systems, robotics, drones and drop boxes amongst others would
go through an accelerated trend. A rapid shift towards omnichannel procurement would be a new
trend once the lockdown is completely lifted.
Every segment, somehow attached in running supply chains, would need to go through severe
compliances as a worker, product, transport and facility sanitization protocols would be the new
priorities. This will not only increase the management cost but also the insurance cost. Labor will
be managed as a key asset of adaptation that plays a fundamental part of a crisis response
program. To deal with one of the largest global exogenous shocks to economies, almost all
aspects of managing supply chains will go through substantial changes.
In the Indian logistics sector, several long horizon transformations will get accelerated and
perhaps skip a generation of gradual improvements. In the post-COVID-19 situation, the main
goals in the medium term should be making them more regional, modifying the supply chain as a
key business driver and putting back the human asset and manpower as the most important factor
for an agile business to succeed in the post-Covid-19 scenario.
Literature Review
Due to rising business uncertainty and vulnerability, which significantly decreased business
practices like outsourcing, production, supplies, and inventories and as a result made supply
chains more vulnerable to disruptions brought on by business risks, supply chain risks have
recently attracted more attention in SCM research (Zsidisin, 2003). (Craighead et al., 2007). This
is related to the fact that supply chains are now more sensitive and complicated than ever before
due to upstream and downstream supply agents (Blackhurst et al., 2005). To survive and
succeed, businesses must strategically work with their most important suppliers and clients.
Based on their intensity, SCD risks have had a considerable negative influence on the operational
and financial performance of the companies (Hendricks and Singhal, 2003), which is important
for developing resilience against SCDs (Bode et al., 2013).
The COVID-19 now has an impact on the globalized and lean business architecture of many
companies (Ivanov, 2020). Due to a suspension in production and logistics activities, the
pandemic reduced the resilience of supply chains and increased the firms' susceptibility to SCDs.
Without the established SCR mechanisms, such as risk mitigation inventories, subcontracting
capacities, backup supply and transportation infrastructures, robust channel distribution systems,
and flexible production technologies, consumer demand has slowed down with longer lockdown,
along with decreased demand for labor, supplies, and delivery, severely impacting supply chains
(Araz et al., 2020). 94% of Fortune 1,000 businesses have been impacted by the COVID-19 as a
result of SCDs in the affected areas (Linton and Vakil, 2020). Demand and supply have both
significantly decreased.
There has to be more thorough research done on how the COVID-19 epidemic has affected
SCDs (Sarkis et al., 2020). Strong policy challenges were needed to handle the SCDs because of
the peculiarities of the COVID-19 problem; these difficulties had to be distinct from previous
encounters with dangers of a similar sort. Due to the prolonged lockdown in almost all
productive activities, which required significant government support, both supply and demand
have significantly decreased. The COVID-19 pandemic, which could be the first global SCD in
the current scenario, called for effective management of global supply chains (GSCs) as well as
addressing the risks involved.
More in-depth analysis is required to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted
SCDs (Sarkis et al., 2020). Because of the uniqueness of the COVID-19 situation, strong policy
challenges were required to tackle the SCDs; these challenges had to be unique from prior
experiences with risks of a similar nature. Both supply and demand have drastically dropped as a
result of the protracted lockdown in practically all economic activity, which required substantial
government support. In the current scenario, the COVID-19 pandemic, which has the potential to
be the first global SCD, has highlighted the need for effective management of global supply
chains (GSCs) as well as risk mitigation.
