India’s logistics industry is among the world’s largest by volume — estimated at USD 250 to 300 billion in 2024 and projected to reach USD 380 billion by 2025-26 (IBEF). The sector contributes roughly 13 to 14 percent of GDP and employs over 22 million people. India ranked 38th out of 139 countries on the World Bank Logistics Performance Index 2023. The National Logistics Policy 2022 targets a reduction in logistics cost from roughly 14 percent of GDP to 8 percent by 2030.
Market size and GDP contribution
The headline numbers for the India logistics industry, every one citable:
- Market size: USD 250 to 300 billion in 2024, projected to reach approximately USD 380 billion by 2025-26 (IBEF, India Brand Equity Foundation).
- GDP contribution: 13 to 14 percent (NITI Aayog and Government of India estimates).
- Employment: 22 million plus people across road freight, rail, warehousing, last-mile and ancillary services (Ministry of Commerce and Invest India).
- Logistics cost as share of GDP: approximately 14 percent in India versus 8 to 10 percent in developed economies (National Logistics Policy 2022 baseline).
The cost-of-logistics gap is the single most important macro number for shippers. Indian goods carry a higher landed-cost penalty than equivalent goods moving inside the United States, Germany, or Singapore. The National Logistics Policy is explicit about closing the gap to 8 percent by 2030. Every infrastructure programme, digital initiative, and tax reform of the past decade is in service of that target.
Sector growth and forecasts
The Indian logistics sector growth rate is forecast at 8 to 10 percent CAGR through 2030 across IBEF, ICRA, and brokerage research. The drivers are familiar but worth naming explicitly:
- Manufacturing growth via Make in India + PLI schemes — Production Linked Incentive sectors (electronics, semiconductors, white goods, pharma) generate domestic freight demand that did not exist a decade ago.
- Ecommerce demand — B2C marketplaces, D2C, social commerce, and quick commerce together have created a high-volume small-parcel layer on top of the traditional logistics stack.
- Cold chain expansion — pharma supply chains, frozen food, and quick-commerce groceries are pulling cold storage and refrigerated transport capacity rapidly upward.
- Infrastructure investment — PM Gati Shakti, Bharatmala, Sagarmala, and the Dedicated Freight Corridors collectively represent multi-trillion-rupee infrastructure outlay.
India’s World Bank LPI ranking moved from 44 in 2018 to 38 in 2023, with measurable improvement in infrastructure and timeliness scores. The trajectory is consistent with the broader forward-looking trend signals tracked in the cluster anchor.
Sector structure: organised vs unorganised
The India logistics sector structure is split between a large unorganised long tail and a consolidating organised core.
Approximately 60 to 65 percent of the Indian logistics market remains unorganised — small fleet operators, single-truck owners, regional couriers, sub-contracted line-haul vendors. The unorganised share has been declining slowly since 2017 but remains the dominant footprint by truck count.
Approximately 35 to 40 percent of the market is organised — large 3PLs, ecommerce-tied carriers, integrated express players. The organised share has been rising consistently since GST. GST 2017 was the structural inflection point because it removed the per-state warehouse arbitrage that protected fragmented operators. National Logistics Policy 2022 reinforced consolidation via the Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP), which integrates carrier and shipper data across modes.
Named organised-sector players, factually: Delhivery, Blue Dart, DHL Supply Chain, FedEx India, DTDC, Ecom Express, Xpressbees, Shadowfax, Mahindra Logistics, TVS Supply Chain Solutions, and Allcargo. Inside the cluster, our first-mile vs last-mile breakdown covers how each leg of the operation maps to these players.
Key segments: express, surface, freight, last-mile
Indian logistics is best read as a taxonomy of segments rather than a single market:
- Air express and surface express: Delhivery, Blue Dart, DTDC, India Post Speed Post, FedEx India dominate. Surface express has overtaken air express on volume thanks to ecommerce.
- Ecommerce last-mile: Delhivery, Ecom Express, Xpressbees, Shadowfax handle the bulk of B2C delivery volume.
- Road freight (line-haul): Mahindra Logistics, Rivigo, Allcargo, BLR Logistics, and a long tail of fleet operators.
- Rail freight: CONCOR, Indian Railways commercial freight, dedicated freight corridors, and the new IRCTC commercial-freight initiatives.
- Sea freight and ports: Adani Ports, Maersk India, J.M. Baxi, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, Mundra Port. Mumbai and JNPA together handle a large share of EXIM container volume.
- Air freight: air cargo terminals at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad anchor international air freight; UDAN tier-2 cargo is expanding domestic air freight.
- 3PL and contract logistics: Mahindra Logistics, DHL Supply Chain, Maersk Contract Logistics, Future Supply Chain, TVS SCS.
- Quick commerce and intracity: Shadowfax, Loadshare, Porter, plus the in-house fleets of Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart and Zomato. Same-day delivery sits inside this segment.
Cold chain — Snowman, Coldex, ColdRush — is the fastest-growing sub-segment by capacity addition, driven by pharma and frozen food. Quick commerce is the fastest-growing by parcel volume.
Policy and infrastructure backdrop
The policy backdrop for the India logistics industry is unusually dense for the next decade.
- National Logistics Policy 2022 (DPIIT) — the umbrella policy targeting 14 to 8 percent of GDP cost reduction by 2030. ULIP digital integration, Comprehensive Logistics Action Plan, and EXIM optimisation are its three operating arms. Our NLP impact analysis covers the policy in depth.
- PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan — multimodal infrastructure planning that integrates 16 central ministries onto a single GIS-based platform. The aim is to eliminate cross-ministry delays in approval and execution.
- Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) — Western and Eastern corridors operational with more under development. The corridors aim to shift long-haul freight from road to rail.
- Bharatmala and Sagarmala — highway and port modernisation programmes.
- GST and e-invoice / e-way bill regime — cleaner inter-state logistics flow with digital pre-clearance replacing physical check posts.
- Digital India initiatives — see our digital India logistics transformation piece for the ULIP and e-logistics stack.
Frequently asked questions
How big is India’s logistics industry?
India’s logistics industry is estimated at USD 250 to 300 billion in 2024 and projected to reach approximately USD 380 billion by 2025-26 (IBEF). The sector contributes 13 to 14 percent of India’s GDP and employs over 22 million people. India ranked 38th out of 139 countries on the World Bank Logistics Performance Index 2023, up from 44th in 2018.
What is the National Logistics Policy 2022?
The National Logistics Policy 2022, launched by the Government of India, aims to reduce logistics cost from approximately 14 percent of GDP to 8 percent by 2030. Key initiatives include the Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) for digital integration, the Comprehensive Logistics Action Plan, and integration with PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan for multimodal infrastructure planning.
What share of Indian logistics is organised vs unorganised?
Approximately 60 to 65 percent of India’s logistics market is unorganised (small fleet owners, single-truck operators, regional couriers), with 35 to 40 percent organised (large 3PLs, ecommerce-tied carriers, integrated express players). The share of organised logistics has been rising since GST 2017 reduced inter-state friction. NLP 2022 and ULIP are accelerating consolidation toward organised players.
Which segments are growing fastest in Indian logistics?
The fastest-growing segments in Indian logistics are quick commerce and intracity delivery (Shadowfax, Porter, Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Genie), cold chain logistics for pharma and food (Snowman, Coldex), ecommerce last-mile (Delhivery, Ecom Express, Xpressbees), and contract logistics for manufacturing tied to PLI schemes. Rail freight is also expanding via dedicated freight corridors.
How does India rank globally in logistics performance?
India ranks 38th out of 139 countries on the World Bank Logistics Performance Index 2023, up six places from 44th in 2018. Improvement areas include customs, infrastructure, international shipments, logistics competence, tracking, and timeliness. India still trails countries like Germany, Singapore, and the United States but has been steadily closing the gap as infrastructure investment matures.
Conclusion
India’s logistics industry is on a sustained growth trajectory backed by infrastructure investment, ecommerce demand, and policy intent to halve logistics cost as a share of GDP by 2030. The sector is consolidating, World Bank LPI ranking is rising, and organised players are taking share. Enterprises shipping at scale gain most from the structural improvements ahead. For the broader cluster pillar see our Indian courier and logistics industry guide, or talk to the team at CourierBook for scale-shipper conversations.
Reference reading: IBEF Logistics Industry and DPIIT Logistics Division for the National Logistics Policy.