The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has launched the Unified Logistics Interface Platform’s (ULIP) Hackathon – ‘LogiXtics’ in order to crowdsource more ideas which will benefit the logistics industry.
ULIP is designed to enhance efficiency and reduce logistics cost in India by creating a transparent platform that can provide real time information to all stakeholders and remove all asymmetry information. The ULIP Hackathon – LogiXtics is organised by NITI Aayog and Atal Innovation Mission and supported by National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) and NICDC Logistics Data Bank Services Limited (NLDSL).
The ULIP Hackathon was launched by Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog in the presence of Shri Amrit Lal Meena Special Secretary, Department of Logistics, Ministry of Commerce & Industry and CEO & MD, NICDC; Ms. Anna Roy, Senior Advisor, NITI Aayog and Shri Abhishek Chaudhary, Vice President, NICDC.
“Today is a very important day for us because we are trying to solve the biggest problem of logistics in India. The cost of logistics in the India is about 14% which is higher than other countries in the world. ULIP’s objective has been to work with top Indian technology organizations from the private sector and identify solutions to reduce logistics cost,” said Shri Amitabh Kant, launching the Hackathon at a virtual event yesterday.
He further congratulated NICDC for integrating the existing logistics systems of various Ministries/Departments and for the successful launch of ULIP Hackathon – LogiXtics. NICDC was mandated by NITI Aayog in January 2021 to develop ULIP by leveraging the Logistics Data Bank Project.
NITI Aayog was entrusted by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in May, 2020 with the task of exploring the role of technology in various sectors. ULIP was conceptualised as one of the technology platforms in the logistics sector.
ULIP is being developed as technology platform in the logistics sector which will provide real time information to all stakeholders and will converge visibility of multi-modal transport across the existing systems of various Ministries/Departments working in silos. Once completed, one can see huge efficiencies in the logistics sector, and which will transform it by bringing down the logistics cost and enhancing India's competitiveness in the global trade.
With the addressed challenges in the logistics sector, a competitive event like LogiXtics under the umbrella of ULIP, invites everyone to showcase their strategic, coding and domain skills on a national-level platform to solve the existing logistics industry issues. The Hackathon is very important to achieve the vision of the ULIP platform.
Speaking at the event, Shri Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary, Department of Logistics and CEO& MD, NICDC added, “ULIP is also in line with the overall objective of PM GatiShakti which aims at breaking of individual silos, promote integration among various Ministries/Departments and promote real single window. It will bring more transparency and visibility to the whole trade making India logistically more efficient and competitive.”
The real usability of ULIP will further get enhanced through this Hackathon as it aims to crowdsource more ideas which will benefit the logistics industry.
Vice President, NICDC informed that the hackathon aims to promote the Startup community, individuals or anyone with the strategic skills and domain knowledge of the sector. The hackathon is open for all and is divided into two stages - ideation stage & prototype stage.
The Logistics sector is the backbone of economic growth in India and is one of the most important accelerators of trade, which is also critical for fulfilling the objective of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat.
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