India To Shine Among Emerging Markets

Supply chain executives, who surveyed for the 2017 Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index picked India as the emerging market with the most logistics potential and the country where their companies were most likely to invest. The survey of more than 800 logistics executives offers an annual snapshot of industry sentiment to go with the Index rankings of the world’s 50 leading emerging markets by size, business conditions, infrastructure and transport connections. India climbed to No. 2 in the 2017 Index, switching spots with United Arab Emirates. China, the world’s second-largest economy, again topped the rankings. “It’s remarkable to see a country this size growing at better than 7 percent a year. Goods & Services Tax (GST) reform has the potential to be a game-changer,” said Detlev Janik, South Asia CEO of Agility Global Integrated Logistics. Reji John speaks with Janik to understand key highlights of the survey. Edited excerpts.

- Detlev Janik

What you think are the major highlights of this year’s index and how are they different from the previous indices?

India has sort of shot up the ranks in the last few years. We are optimistic about India. I have been here for the past 13 years and there have been many ups and downs. India’s economic development and explosive growth are massive and I think that comes through in the survey too. If you look at the methodology of this survey you notice that market size and market compatibility play an important part. The infrastructure has improved dramatically and is viewed very positively. China is still very much ahead. But I think India is viewed as a major opportunity because again size of the market is huge. India has 1.3 billion people and given the size of the economy and size of the market, it still grows at 7 percent which I think is massive. And therefore you see India shooting up the ranks. We also see willingness by the government to change, to improve taxation, regulations and investment environment. So I think that leads to an improved perspective of India as a logistics market and as an opportunity.

What factors make India significantly ahead of other emerging markets?