India needs 51 million truck drivers

Indian logistics sector badly needs skilled workers. For example, a recent study done in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry says India's road freight segment would need nearly 51 million truck drivers by 2015.

The study paper -- 'Skills Gaps in the Indian Logistics Sector' -- estimates that currently India has only some 3 million truck drivers for medium and heavy commercial vehicles. Even if 50 per cent of all drivers in India are to be trained, almost 125 institutes of the size and scale of the existing one in Namakkal will be required in the next 7-8 years, says the paper.

The study estimates the number of warehouse managers required in the organised sector around 14,000 that will grow to around 35,000 by 2015. This means the country will need around 8,000 more warehouse managers by 2015.

Some areas where skills are lacking include familiarity with warehousing formats (like WA and VNA compared to the prevalent ground storage), with modern equipment, with IT systems (WMS, handhelds, RFID), industry-specific

stocking and handling practices, and practices around safety and security of stock, the paper notes.

Better skills will bring down India's spending on logistics, which at 13 per cent of GDP, is higher than the developed nations. The key reason for this is the relatively higher level of inefficiencies in the system, with lower average trucking speeds, higher turnaround time at ports and high cost of administrative delays.