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India’s trade ambitions are often discussed through the language of infrastructure: larger ports, faster freight corridors, modern industrial clusters and better-connected highways. These assets remain essential, but the next phase of competitiveness will depend equally on two less visible forces connected digital systems and a new generation of skilled professionals.

The opportunity is significant. Public digital platforms are creating stronger foundations for logistics coordination, while young Indians are entering the workforce with an instinctive familiarity with data, technology and real-time decision-making. Together, these capabilities can make trade more transparent, responsive and inclusive.

A Stronger Foundation for Connected Trade

Transporting products entails participation of various entities from producers to carriers to ports and warehouses and customs. If all the entities operate in the disconnected way, the process will suffer from repetitive documentation and bad visibility of the cargo flow.

According to Indian’s National Policy of Logistics, efficient logistics would require not only connectivity. The focus should be put on automation, digitization, standardization, tracking and interaction between the parties. The latter is complemented by PM Gati Shakti initiative, which consolidates all the infrastructure knowledge for connected multimodal planning.

From Digital Infrastructure to Real-World Solutions

The connected logistics ecosystem is emerging in India thanks to digital platforms deployed by NICDC Logistics Data Services Ltd. The Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) allows data to be exchanged securely among government and private stakeholders to act as one foundation for logistics innovation. The Logistics Data Bank (LDB), on the other hand, provides end-to-end container visibility across transport modalities. Meanwhile, Track Your Transport (TYT) offers digital logistics to transporters and businesses via a mobile-first interface. All these initiatives show how shared digital infrastructure can move beyond connectivity to provide practical solutions that improve visibility, coordination and operational efficiency in the trade ecosystem.

Public Platforms Can Enable Private Innovation

Government-led digital infrastructure can create a common foundation on which businesses, technology providers and entrepreneurs build new services.

Systems that integrate information from multiple logistics agencies can make cargo movement easier to understand. The Logistics Data Bank, for example, brings together information from different supply-chain participants to provide container visibility through a common window, along with comparative performance indicators.

The wider value of such systems extends beyond shipment tracking. Reliable digital information can support estimated-arrival tools, congestion analysis, inventory planning, route comparison and exception alerts.

Young entrepreneurs do not necessarily need to recreate this underlying infrastructure. They can use connected data foundations to develop applications that solve specific problems for exporters, manufacturers, transporters and smaller enterprises.

Young Professionals Will See Logistics Differently

Previous generations often encountered logistics primarily as a transport or warehouse function. Younger professionals are increasingly likely to experience it as a combination of operations, software, analytics and sustainability.

A digital-native workforce is accustomed to live information, intuitive interfaces and rapid feedback. When such professionals enter logistics, they are likely to question why shipment information is delayed, why systems cannot communicate or why recurring bottlenecks remain hidden inside monthly reports.

This questioning can be constructive. It can encourage organisations to simplify workflows, improve data quality and replace reactive reporting with proactive decision-making.

UN Trade and Development has highlighted the potential of young people to use digital tools, artificial intelligence and climate-smart technologies to create innovative solutions. Logistics offers a particularly strong opportunity because many of its challenges involve coordination, information and scale.

The New Logistics Career Is Broader

The future logistics workforce will still need experts in transportation, warehousing, freight forwarding and port operations. However, the sector will also require data analysts, software developers, sustainability specialists, user-experience designers and digital-product managers.

A young professional may work on predicting dwell time, designing a shipment dashboard, measuring freight emissions or building an interface that helps small exporters understand complex logistics processes.

This expansion can make logistics more attractive as a career. It moves the sector beyond the perception of being a back-end support function and positions it as a field where technology and operations meet.

The National Logistics Policy specifically recognises skill development and logistics education as important components of sectoral transformation.

Inclusion Will Strengthen Trade Competitiveness

The presence of connected systems can induce more participation in trade.

While large companies have teams helping them with the complexities of logistics, small manufacturers may have limited access. The ability to gather shipment information and access logistics services digitally allow those firms to become confident players in a broader market. Young professionals and start-ups can contribute by creating simpler tools, regional-language interfaces and services designed around the needs of MSMEs. Their understanding of mobile-first behaviour can make complex trade information more accessible.

Young talents and start-ups can bring in fantastic solutions in the form of user-friendly devices, local-language interfaces, and services tailored to the needs of MSMEs. Their experience of a mobile-first user can make trade processes comprehensible.

The positive synergy from public infrastructure and private innovation can bring about a trade ecosystem that is going to be more effective and inclusive.

Technology Will Still Need Human Judgement

A connected system can detect patterns, compare performances and spot any exceptions. AI can aid in predicting traffic jams and delay forecasts. However, all this cannot replace decisions taken by humans.

Logistics frequently involves commercial priorities, customer relationships, regulatory requirements and unexpected operational conditions. Young professionals will therefore need to combine technical capability with sector knowledge, collaboration and judgement.

The strongest talent will not simply know how to build an algorithm. It will understand which logistics problem deserves to be solved and how the resulting insight should guide action.

Conclusion

India is building important physical and digital foundations for a more connected trade ecosystem. The next task is to ensure that these systems are used creatively, responsibly and at scale.

Young talent can provide the energy, curiosity and digital fluency required to turn logistics information into practical solutions. Government-backed platforms can provide the connectivity and common infrastructure on which that innovation develops.

The future of Indian trade will therefore not be built by infrastructure or technology alone. It will emerge from the interaction between connected systems and people capable of imagining better ways to use them.

When strong public foundations meet a skilled and ambitious generation, logistics can become more predictable, entrepreneurship can become more accessible and Indian businesses can participate in global trade with greater confidence.

American Icon in a Global Market

A couple of years ago, the Fat Boy Arnold Schwarzenegger rode in Terminator 2 sold at auction for more than half a million dollars. The bike’s on-screen presence with Arnold cruising in a black leather jacket and Italian Persol sunglasses fueled a run on the bike back in the early 1990s. Maker Harley-Davidson just released a 30th anniversary limited edition Fat Boy.

Harley-Davidson bikes have been an American icon for more than 100 years. With a classic foundation story, starting out of a small shed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1903, the company and its bikes are a stand-in for the American ideal of freedom and strength, its brand recognizable across the world. Harley-Davidson weathered the Great Depression, two World Wars and the financial tsunami in 2008 to emerge as a “great American company,” as noted by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017.

The company is focused on nurturing a new generation of riders who include young, female — and global — enthusiasts. Expanding its portfolio of motorcycle offerings for global appeal, it has set a goal to grow its international business to 50 percent of annual revenue by 2027.

Harley global sales

Taken for a Tariff Ride

Harley-Davidson bikes enjoy a well-earned prestigious reputation around the world and the price tag reflects it. Adding to its price, many countries also impose high tariffs on imported two-wheelers. In fast-growing Asia, tariffs range from 20 percent in Taiwan to 30 percent in China, 60 percent in Thailand, and 100 percent until recently in India.

Facing a declining U.S. consumer base and eyeing growing markets in Asia, Harley-Davidson is working to expand its sales particularly in South and Southeast Asia. U.S. tariffs have thrown a monkey wrench into those plans.

Here at home, the Trump administration’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum would add some $40 million in domestic production costs, according to the company. Making matters worse, the European Union retaliated by increasing the tariffs on U.S. motorcycles from 6 percent to 31 percent, adding an average $2,200 to the cost of a Harley-Davidson bike exported to Europe. If the steel tariff dispute isn’t resolved, Europe has threatened to raise the tariff in 2021 to 56 percent.

Harley-Davidson, like so many other companies, hastened production expansion in overseas plants to mitigate costs from the tariff war, a strategy the company undertook in India more than a decade ago.

The Largest Motorcycle Market in the World

India‘s auto industry is regarded as one of the fastest-growing in the world. In 2018, India produced over 29 million vehicles (including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three-wheelers and two-wheelers).

The two-wheeler category leads the Indian automobile market with 80 percent market share due to a growing middle class and a young population. India is now both the largest two-wheeler consumer market and the largest manufacturer of two-wheelers in the world. There are an estimated 170 million motorcycles, scooters and mopeds on the roads today in India. But until 2007, Harley-Davidson was denied access to the Indian market.

Size of India's Motorcycle Market

Mangoes for Motorcycles

In 2007, President George W. Bush struck the so-called “mango deal” with India, which allowed Harley-Davidson to sell its bikes in India in exchange for the end to an 18-year-ban on imports of Indian mangoes to the United States. The deal was signed a year later by then-U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath.

The mango deal allowed Harley to invest in India and permitted imports of Harley-Davidson bikes with an engine capacity of 800 cc or above if it complied with Euro-III emission norms. But India remained firm it would not lower its 100 percent tariff on motorcycle imports, which continued to deny Harley-Davidson effective access to the Indian market for its bikes completely built in the United States.

In August 2009, Harley-Davidson announced plans to enter the market in India through a subsidiary and started assembly operations in 2011 in a plant located in in Bawal in Haryana state using parts imported from the United States. Through a complicated tax system, imported motorcycle parts face around a 39 percent tariff. India-built Harley-Davidson motorcycles are also exported to Europe and Asia.

Too Much for Trump

Whether standing on the factory floor in Wisconsin or making a State of the Union speech, President Trump frequently complains about India’s 100 percent tariff on Harley-Davidson bikes as a sticking point in U.S-India trade relations.

In February 2018, the Indian government responded by lowering the custom duty on fully-built imported motorcycles from 100 percent to 50 percent. However, since Harley-Davidson assembles 12 out of its 16 models in India for domestic consumption, most of its bikes won’t be subject to the 50 percent tariff either.

In a media interview with an Indian newspaper, Peter MacKenzie, Managing Director of India & Greater China for Harley-Davidson was quoted saying, “We don’t see any significant impact. Yes, there is a reduction in custom and any cut is always welcome. However, a large portion of our portfolio is locally produced.”

Beyond trade wars and tariffs, one of Harley-Davidson’s biggest issues is consumer preferences for smaller and cheaper motorcycles in Asian markets like India. The company plans to develop a more accessible, small-displacement motorcycle (250cc to 500cc) to increase sales in India and other Asian markets, but for now the country’s vast middle-income group generally prefers less expensive bikes that sell for between $1,000 and $1,500, about eight times less than a Harley-Davidson. The smaller bikes are more adept at navigating narrow, pot-holed streets choked with thousands of other bikes.
Harley-Davidson Sales in India

Big Hog, Small Trade Deal

President Trump is scheduled to go to India at the end of February and he wants to sign a trade deal with India’s Prime Minister Modi. Right now, the deal appears narrowly focused on addressing U.S. complaints regarding lack of access for the U.S. dairy and medical technology industries in exchange for the U.S. restoring India’s tariff benefits under the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences and removing India from countries hit by U.S. tariffs on aluminum and steel.

India might also ratchet back the tariff hike it imposed last year on high-value farm imports such as almonds, walnut, apples, and wine, among 29 other items.

As in Terminator 2, next week is judgment day. If Modi says “Hasta la vista, baby“ to President Trump’s request to eliminate or lower the tariff on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Trump is likely to say, ”I’ll be back.“

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PBhatnagar

Pragya Bhatnagar is a Research Associate with the Hinrich Foundation where he focuses on International Trade Research. He is a Hinrich Foundation Global Trade Leader Scholar alumnus, earning his Master’s degree in International Journalism, specializing in Business and Financial Journalism, from Hong Kong Baptist University. He received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Lucknow University, India.

This article originally appeared on TradeVistas.org. Republished with permission.

The Future of Indian Trade Will Be Built by Connected Systems and Young Talent