A steel fall in Baltic Dry Index in London weakened shipping and logistics stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday, July 07, 2010.

The retail arm of Reliance Industries (RIL) has cut its losses as a new centralised supply chain brought savings, and shoppers started spending more as the Indian economy returned to a high growth path after the slowdown of 2008.

Indian carriers are witnessing growth not only in passenger traffic, but also in air cargo. While passenger traffic rose by 30% over the last six months, carriers are expecting air cargo to grow 15% on international and 6% on domestic routes in FY 2011. Jet Airways carried 96,386 tonne cargo on global routes in FY09, an 87% increase against the corresponding period last year.

Movement of goods by air has become expensive for exporters with the rise in air cargo fares. While fares have been inching upwards over the last few months, freight forwarders say that fares this May are the highest in the last several years.

National carrier Air India has been awarded the “Emerging Freighter Services of the Year”– an international award for excellence in air cargo. The airline has developed dedicated freighter services in the country.

What could be better for a company than beating its own estimates? Cognizant Technology Solutions has managed to do just that. The company reported 16 per cent increase in its revenue, which is higher than the last year. The total revenue this year was $3.279 billion for fiscal ending December, 2009 as against $2.816 billion last year. Its net income rose to $535 million, a 24 per cent rise.

The logistics industry, estimated at $20 billion, is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 15% over the next few years. Driven primarily by outsourcing, the industry will witness a paradigm shift in warehousing as well as third-party logistics (3PL).

India and China were the top two over-performers among developing economies in terms of improved logistics performance despite lower levels of per capita income, says a World Bank Group survey on international trade logistics.

China and India are the top two over-performers among developing economies in improving their capacity to efficiently move goods and connect manufacturers and consumers with international markets, according to a new World Bank Group survey.

India’s logistics sector, including ports and road transport, is glimpsing the first signs of recovery from a global recession that caused trade to shrink and cargo volumes to slump through the most part of last year.