Government Approves Apex Body for Transport and Logistics Planning

India's transport sector covers roads, railways, ports, airports, and inland waterways. Each mode falls under a separate ministry. About 70% of freight in India moves by road, far more than any other mode. This heavy dependence on roads is a key reason logistics costs in India stand at about 13-14% of GDP, well above the global benchmark of roughly 8%. High logistics costs raise prices for manufacturers, reduce farm-gate returns for farmers, and cut margins for small traders. They also make Indian exports less competitive in global markets.

The government has used two major tools to address fragmented planning. The PM GatiShakti National Master Plan places infrastructure data from many ministries on one GIS-based digital platform, helping departments see all ongoing and planned projects together and avoid duplication. The National Logistics Policy (NLP), 2022 set a clear goal of bringing logistics costs below 8% of GDP. Sector-specific bodies also exist: the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCI) builds freight-only rail corridors, and the Container Corporation of India handles rail-based container freight. These are Special Purpose Vehicles set up for defined single-mode tasks.

Despite these steps, transport planning remained fragmented. Railways, roads, ports, civil aviation, and inland waterways each planned and cleared their own projects separately. This produced poor multimodal links. A port could be built without matching rail or road connectivity. No single body researched, planned, appraised, and monitored transport projects across all modes together. That gap is what the newly approved Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority (ITLA) is designed to fill.