AI in Logistics: Transforming India with predictability and precision

The movement of goods has always been the quiet backbone of India's economy.

- By Nikitha Sebastian

From the coasts of Gujarat to the industrial corridors of Tamil Nadu and deep into the bustling Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, logistics is not just about trucks, warehouses, and ports anymore. It is now about algorithms and predictive models that can forecast demand or reduce redundant paperwork in the system.

The Indian government has repeatedly emphasised the urgent need to bring down logistics costs from 13-14 per cent of GDP to around 8 per cent, in line with global benchmarks. At the same time, industry leaders are under pressure to ensure faster, more reliable, and more transparent delivery systems to support booming e-commerce, global trade, and the rising demands of manufacturing and MSMEs. Sitting at the centre of this transformation is artificial intelligence, reimagining logistics in ways that India has never seen before.

Intelligence as infrastructure

The most transformative change in Indian logistics today is the recognition that physical assets, fleets of trucks, networks of warehouses, or even aircraft capacity, can only take the industry so far. The missing layer has always been intelligence. Machine learning and predictive analytics are now providing the nervous system that companies lacked for decades.

"India's logistics costs remain higher than global benchmarks, and the solution lies in technology-led optimisation," observes Sujit Patel, CEO and Managing Director of SCS Tech India. His team integrates IoT and satellite data with AI-powered forecasting to reduce blind spots, minimise delays, and improve inventory planning. "By unifying fragmented data across multiple stakeholders, we create a transparent and responsive supply chain, empowering decision-makers with actionable insights rather than post-event reports.”