India at nascent stage in industrial engineering research: Goyal

Mumbai: Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that India is at a "nascent stage" on industrial engineering study and research, which is essential for creating robust supply chains. Speaking at the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Goyal said: "we need to do a lot on this front and there exists a high scope for the same". He, who was earlier the minister for railways, recounted that the Indian Railways was struggling to get solutions on the organisation research front till IIT-Bombay came up with solutions. IIT's work will help the railways and soon it will be coming out with a revised time-table structure which has its roots in the research.

Goyal said the closely interconnected global economies require significant value addition on the supply chains front, like improving the processes on packaging and warehousing. The minister said the research and planning for making supply chains should not be restricted to the private sector alone, and we need such efforts on delivery of public services as well. Earlier, Goyal inaugurated a centre of excellence in logistic and supply chain management.

Chairman of NITIE's Board of Governors, Shashi Kiran Shetty, who also heads All Cargo Logistics, said that the institute aspires to have autonomy like the one enjoyed by IITs and IIMs, and requested help on the same from the minister.