NEW DELHI, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Indian Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said here on Thursday that 56 new airports would be made functional in the country in the next few years.

"Efficient logistics is critical for countries like India to harness trade and facilitate greater and faster integration with both the domestic as well as world economy. Keeping this in mind 56 new airports will become functional in the next few years," Prabhu said while addressing a two-day Global Logistics Summit in New Delhi.

Officials say the Indian logistics industry is estimated at around 215 billion U.S. dollars in 2019-20, growing at over 10 percent annually.

India has improved its ranking in the logistics performance index by the World Bank from 54 in 2014 to 35 in 2016.?