Sustainability and Safety Practices in the Indian Logistics Sector through Data Analysis

Sustainability in business refers to the company’s effect on society and the environment. The usage of sustainable business practices at the organizational level contributes to providing better access to new markets and supporting the success of the business (Chungyalpa, 2021). As part of this, sustainability and safety practices have a significant role in fulfilling operational needs and upholding responsible and ethical practices (NBCC India, 2021). Sustainability practices ensure to design the of goods and services in low carbon and resource-efficient manner while safe practices ensure that products at their end of the cycle should be safe by safe disposal/reuse/recycling NBCC India, 2021).

In India, logistic companies are becoming more focused on sustainability and safety practices to minimize their environmental impact and enhance efficiency. These practices are integrated into the form of adopting advanced technologies, fast-track infrastructure development, attracting investment and investor interest, and sustainable logistics (EY India, 2023). By adopting these strategies, logistic companies are focusing on building a more future-ready logistic sector wherein sustainability is critical.

With this, the study focuses on the examination of the different sustainability practices of the Indian logistic sector. This goal of the case is specifically focused towards sustainability and safety in product offerings. Herein, this article will focus on processing the data related to sustainability and safety to ensure the accuracy of the data for making informed decisions based on statistical analysis.

Collecting Sustainability-Centric Data from Logistics Firms

To achieve this goal, the data collected included annual reports of the following companies for the years 2023 and 2024:

The companies selected included only those operating in the logistics sector of India and are listed on the national indices. For these companies, NSE-published Business Sustainability and Responsibility (BSBR) reports were extracted. Herein, principle 2 of the report is about “Business should provide goods and services in a manner that is sustainable and safe” which is linked with the sustainability and safety aspect of the logistic companies (NBCC India, 2021), so herein, the indicators used for representing this principle was selected as the variables of the study. Further, some basic variables were also included to denote the overall status of the companies. The final list of indicators is:

Overall company status indicators

• Company name
• Year
• National Office
• International Office
• Total employees
• Total workers
• Total differently abled employees
• Total differently abled workers
• Percentage of female in Board of directors
• % of females in key management personnel
• CSR expense (% of average profit)

Goal 2 indicators

• Percentage of R&D investments in specific technologies to improve the environmental and social
  impacts of products and processes on total R&D made by the entity.
• Percentage of capital expenditure (capex) investments in specific technologies to improve the environmental and social impacts of products and processes to total capex investments made by the entity.
• Of the products and packaging reclaimed at the end of life of products, the amount (in metric tonnes) reused – Plastics.
• Of the products and packaging reclaimed at the end of life of products, the amount (in metric tonnes)  recycled – Plastics.
• Of the products and packaging reclaimed at the end of life of products, the amount (in metric tonnes) safely disposed – Plastics.
• Of the products and packaging reclaimed at the end of life of products, the amount (in metric tonnes) reused – Ewaste.
• Of the products and packaging reclaimed at the end of life of products, the amount (in metric tonnes)  recycled – Ewaste.
• Of the products and packaging reclaimed at the end of life of products, the amount (in metric tonnes) safely disposed – Ewaste.
• Of the products and packaging reclaimed at the end of life of products, the amount (in metric tonnes) reused – Hazardous waste.
• Of the products and packaging reclaimed at the end of life of products, the amount (in metric tonnes) recycled – Hazardous waste.
• Of the products and packaging reclaimed at the end of life of products, the amount (in metric tonnes) safely disposed of – Hazardous waste.

Transforming Data for Sustainable Logistics Analysis

The original data collected from the BSBR report was recorded in MS Excel. Herein, for a better presentation of the data, the initial rows of the Excel file were devoted to the classification of the indicators followed by the row for the specification of the headers. Also, as indicators are in mixed numerical format i.e. decimal, integer, percentage and year, so there is also a need to have specifications of the data based on their data type while importing the data in Power BI for analysis.

Even the data collected initially is a cumulative Excel file having all principal information derived from the BSBR report. As this goal is restricted to principle 2 therefore, extraction of only relevant data was required. Also, there are null values in the data and incomplete information, so the filling of information is required to maintain consistency. Resolving these issues is essential for enhancing clarity and making insights more relevant. Further addressing of inconsistencies and cleaning of data helps in reducing the risk of errors and better decision making, thus for meaningful analysis and effective measurement of sustainability and safety incorporation metrics, initial processing of data is required such as:

• Removal of non-relevant row i.e. first row.
• Using the first row as headers.
• Fill out the rows in column 1 to denote the company name in each row.
• Changing the data types of the columns.
• Replacing null values with 0.
• Creating a separate table for Goal 2 indicators.

After cleaning the data and processing it, for having a clear understanding of the data a basic overview of the dataset is derived using pivot analysis and basic visualization.

Understanding Sustainability Trends Through Data Analysis

Pivot analysis is an important tool in PowerBI which helps in summarizing, analyzing, and reorganizing complex datasets. Pivot tables by rearranging data help in identifying patterns and relationships in raw data (Microsoft, 2024a). Herein, the pivot was performed on Total differently-abled employees by Year. This analysis helped in year-wise comparison of the inclusion of differently-abled employees in the workforce.

The data shows that Container Corporation of India Limited, Blue Dart Express Limited, Delhivery Limited, Gateway Distriparks Limited, Mahindra Logistics Limited and TCI Express Limited maintained steady employment for differently abled workers between 2023 and 2024. Some companies like Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Limited, TVS Supply Chain Solutions Limited and VRL Logistics Limited only started employing differently-abled workers in 2024. The overall employment of differently-abled workers increased from 64 in 2023 to 70 in 2024, indicating a slight improvement in inclusivity efforts across these logistics companies.

Another method adopted is the visualization of safety indicators. Data visualization helps in an intuitive and clear understanding of the patterns and trends making it easier to communicate the data analysis results. By transforming the raw data into a graphical presentation, critical insights could be derived. (Microsoft, 2024b). One of the indicators used for visualization is E-waste Recycled over the years. E-waste recycling is a crucial metric for sustainability, reflecting the efforts made by companies to manage the lifecycle of electronic products in an environmentally responsible manner.

The bar chart shows the amount of E-waste recycled in 2023 and 2024, measured in metric tonnes. In 2023, a total of 7.4 metric tonnes of e-waste was recycled, while in 2024, this figure rose significantly to 13.1 metric tonnes. This increase indicates a growing commitment by the companies to recycle electronic waste, reducing the environmental impact and aligning their practices with sustainability goals, particularly those outlined under SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). This upward trend in recycling efforts highlights the positive steps taken by the companies to improve waste management practices, contributing to a more sustainable and eco-friendly business model. This upward trend in recycling efforts highlights the positive steps taken by the companies to improve waste management practices, contributing to a more sustainable and eco-friendly business model. However, the individual company-wise assessment shows that this picture is based on Blue Dart Express Limited company only reflecting no focus of other companies on recycling e-waste.

Another important indicator analyzed is the average R&D (Research and Development) investment share by companies. R&D investment reflects the commitment of companies toward innovation, particularly in developing technologies or practices that enhance environmental sustainability and safety incorporation.

The above bar chart shows the year-wise average percentage of R&D investment in 2023 and 2024. In 2023, companies allocated an average of 4.5% of their R&D investments towards improving environmental and social impacts. However, in 2024, this share decreased to 3.3%. Company-wise examination revealed that for Gateway Distriparks Limited the share decreased from 57% to 41% and Mahindra Logistics Limited from 6% to 5.3%. This decline in R&D investment share may suggest a potential shift in resource allocation or a reduced focus on innovation related to sustainability. The reduction could also reflect challenges faced by companies in maintaining previous levels of investment. Monitoring this trend is essential for understanding the long-term commitment of companies toward achieving sustainability goals through continuous innovation and improvement.

Sustainability in Logistics Through Data-Driven Insights

The data analysis showed important trends in sustainability and safety incorporation among logistic companies. The increase in e-waste recycling showed more responsible waste management while the decline in R&D investment share shows potential allocation of resources impacts future sustainability innovations. These insights could be derived due to data cleaning and transformation. Thus, the processing of data lays a solid foundation for further analysis. By resolving data structure and unit issues, more insightful and reliable outcomes could be derived. Herein, as the data processing was done, thus, further analysis could be done in the next milestones for better insights derivation about sustainability and safety incorporation in logistics industry.

References

• Chungyalpa, W. (2021). Understanding business sustainability: the what, the why, and the how of sustainable business practices. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352837459_Understanding_Business_Sustainability_The_What_the_Why_and_the_How_of_Sustainable_Business_Practices
• EY India. (2023). Envisioning the future of Indian logistics@2047. https://assets.ey.com/content/dam/ey-sites/ey-com/en_in/topics/esg/04/ey-envisioning-the-future-of-indian-logistics.pdf
• Microsoft. (2024a). Pivot Columns Feature Description – Power Query. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-query/pivot-columns
• Microsoft. (2024b). Visualization types in Power BI – Power BI. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/visuals/power-bi-visualization-types-for-reports-and-q-and-a
• NBCC India. (2021). Business Responsibility Sustainability Reporting Policy [Report]. https://www.nbccindia.in/pdfData/policies/BRSR%20Policy_NBCC_12042023.pdf