Mumbai scores over other metros on freight traffic

MAR 20, 2015: The GVK managed Mumbai International Airport Ltd. (MIAL) released a research study report conducted by independent agency The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and titled ‘Economic Impact Study of CSIA, Mumbai’ according to which the Mumbai Airport is ranked first in India in handling international freight to the extent of about one-third of the country’s total international freight movement for the year 2012-13.

Mumbai Airport’s share of the country’s international cargo movement is at 32.20 percent while for the domestic cargo it is 23.30 percent. Overall, Mumbai tops the chart with a combined (domestic and international) share of 29 percent. Delhi’s share for international, domestic and total are 25.5 percent, 24 percent and 24.9 percent respectively. Chennai comes third with respective figures of 16.9 percent, 10 percent and 14.4 percent.

The figures are encouraging for the city and state of Maharashtra as it provides the right platform to accelerate the expansion of international trade. Air-Borne exports for instance have been on a northward trajectory with the rise from 186,969 metric tonnes in the year 2006-07 to 266,148 by 2012-13. The NCAER study highlights that Mumbai’s share in national Air-Borne imports increased from 31.1 percent in 2006-07 to 32 percent in 2011-12.

The NCAER study also presents an interesting detail about the correlation of GDP growth rate of transport sector and its correlation with overall GDP growth in India with the correlation factor being 0.6 for transport by other means and 0.8 for Air Transport. This suggests a better correlation between GDP Growth rate of Air Transport and Overall GDP Growth rate.