The FedEx CEO said India puts out about 2.8% of global manufacturing. “Who here will doubt that we can double that, triple that. What is the limit? There is a significant opportunity to increase the percentage of global manufacturing in India. And I think this is a moment of opportunity here.” he said.
Observing how tariffs are a very sensitive subject, he said that reducing non-tariff barriers, making it streamlined and easy so that the goods can flow across borders in a smooth way at a cost that is as low as possible should be deliberated more.
Drawing a parallel with the situation during the Covid outbreak, he highlighted how things had moved very quickly in that period. “In April 2021, when it was the height of the pandemic here, we were moving a lot of medical equipment, especially oxygen concentrators, to India. At that point, a plane used to land within 45 minutes. It was all unloaded into trucks and the whole operation went off very smoothly. Why can’t we do that in normal times too? There are a lot of opportunities to improve things,” Subramaniam added.
The global logistics player, FedEx, which offers a worldwide portfolio of shipping, transportation, e-commerce and business services, wants to leverage the role of technology to make supply chains smarter for everyone. “We have 750,000 team members, 700 airplanes, 200,000 motorised vehicles and 5000 facilities around the world. When we move 16 million packages a day, we are a referendum on global supply chains every single day,” says Subramaniam.He added that the supply chain aftermath is still being dealt with in the face of the pandemic. “The role of tech is paramount here. At FedEx, we are determined to make supply chains smarter – that is our mission now.” Talking about how the term supply chain is heard very often now, Subramaniam said that resilience is now emphasised more as a trait. “The word resilience has now come into the mix. Resilience is all fine and good but it also has to be backed up by efficiency, else it could be an inflationary cost,” he cautioned. Expressing his enthusiasm on Prime Minister’s Gati Shakti plan to enrich logistics, he said he is thrilled about the prospects. “I am very optimistic, very bullish on where India is and where it is going,” he stated.
The Business 20 (B20) is the official G20 dialogue forum with the global business community. Established in 2010, B20 is known to be the most prominent engagement groups in G20, with companies and business organisations as participants.
