PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan

Also called: Gati Shakti · Topic: Transport and Communication in India · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan is a national master plan for infrastructure, launched on 13 October 2021. Its core is a GIS platform: one digital map where central ministries and States/UTs put their projects, so that roads, railways, ports, airports, waterways, pipelines and logistics are planned together [1].

• It matters because it ends the old habit of each department planning on its own.
• It is India's main tool for joining all transport modes, and the government has linked it to lowering the cost of moving goods [10].

Explanation

The problem it solves

• Separate planning wasted time and money:
• In the past, each department planned only its own projects.
• A road might be built and then dug up again to lay a pipeline.

• Ports often had no rail link.

• Weak links between modes made the modal imbalance worse:

• Modal imbalance means too much traffic goes by one mode while cheaper modes stay under-used.
• Roads carry about 71% of freight and rail carries about 18% (2024-25) [5].
• Inland waterways carry only about 2% [6].
• Too much freight on roads leads to more fuel use and emissions. That raises logistics costs and makes Indian goods less competitive abroad.

How the platform works (cause → process → result)

• The base tool is GIS (Geographic Information System): computer mapping that places many layers of data on one map of the same place.
• It was built by BISAG-N (Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics), based in Gandhinagar, Gujarat [1].
• Its layers include administrative boundaries, economic zones, and infrastructure and utilities [1].
• Process:
• Each ministry puts its projects on the shared map.
• Planners see every mode in one place.

• Clashes and missing links show up early. For example, a highway can be planned with a rail siding or a port road beside it.

• Result:

• Fewer delays and less repeated digging.
• Smoother links between modes, so cargo can shift from road to cheaper rail and water.

Who is on it and how it grew

• At launch: 16 ministries, including Railways and Road Transport [1].
• By October 2024: 44 central ministries and 36 States/UTs had joined, and 1,614 data layers had been added [2].

Where it fits: plan and process together

• Gati Shakti plans the physical infrastructure.
• The National Logistics Policy (NLP, 17 September 2022) handles the processes, digital systems and rules [7].
• The two aim at one goal: lower logistics cost.
• Logistics cost is the total cost of moving and storing goods. It covers transport, warehousing, inventory (stock kept in store), packaging and paperwork.
• The government said Gati Shakti could bring this cost down to 7-8% of GDP [10].
• The NCAER–DPIIT study puts it at 7.97% of GDP for 2023-24. The older estimate was 13-14% [3].
• India aims to be in the top 25 countries for logistics performance by 2030 [4].

Where it occurs

• Coverage: all of India. It is a national plan, with 44 central ministries and 36 States/UTs on the platform [2].
• Year: launched on 13 October 2021 [1].
• Technical builder: BISAG-N, Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [1].
• Projects it brings together:
• Bharatmala Pariyojana (highway corridors), which plans 35 Multimodal Logistics Parks (MMLPs). Together they will handle about 700 million tonnes of cargo once working [8].
  • An MMLP is a large freight hub where road, rail, and sometimes waterways and air meet, so goods can change mode in one place.
• Sagarmala (port-led development).

• Dedicated Freight Corridors (to move freight back to rail) and Jal Marg Vikas (waterways).

• Regional example: Jogighopa, Assam, on the Brahmaputra (National Waterway-2). It is India's first International MMLP and links road, rail and waterway cargo with Bangladesh and Bhutan [9].

• Flows it serves: coal from Jharkhand and Odisha to power plants across India, wheat from Punjab to deficit states, and cargo moving to and from the ports.

Don't confuse with

• National Logistics Policy (2022): Gati Shakti plans the physical infrastructure on a GIS map (2021). NLP handles processes, digital systems and rules, launched on 17 September 2022 [7].
• ULIP (Unified Logistics Interface Platform): ULIP is NLP's portal that shows where goods are in real time. Gati Shakti is a planning map of infrastructure projects [7].
• Bharatmala / Sagarmala: these are sectoral programmes that build highways and ports. Gati Shakti is the common planning platform where such projects are put on one map.
• ISRO / NRSC: the Gati Shakti GIS platform was built by BISAG-N, not ISRO or NRSC [1].

Prelims Hooks

• PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan launched: 13 October 2021 [1].
• GIS platform built by BISAG-N, Gandhinagar (Gujarat), not ISRO or NRSC [1].
• At launch, 16 ministries were on it. By October 2024: 44 central ministries, 36 States/UTs, 1,614 data layers [2].
• Order of launch: Golden Quadrilateral (1999) → Sagarmala and Bharatmala (2015–17) → Gati Shakti (2021) → National Logistics Policy (2022).
• Logistics cost: 7.97% of GDP (2023-24) in the NCAER–DPIIT study, not the older 13-14% [3]. The Gati Shakti target was stated as 7-8% of GDP [10].
• Freight share (2024-25): road ~71% > rail ~18% > inland waterways ~2%. This is the imbalance that integrated planning tries to correct [5][6].

Mains Points

• Why integrated planning was needed (GS-III, infrastructure):
• Separate planning by each department caused repeated digging, delays and ports without rail links.

• With no smooth first- and last-mile links, freight stayed on roads (~71%). The results were high fuel import bills, high emissions and weaker exports [5].

• Policy response, plan and process together:

• Gati Shakti gives GIS-based joint planning across 44 ministries and 36 States/UTs [2].
• NLP 2022 and ULIP improve processes [7].
• Bharatmala MMLPs, Sagarmala ports, Dedicated Freight Corridors and Jal Marg Vikas (target of a 5% waterways share by 2030) carry the plan out on the ground [6].

• For the North-East, hubs such as Jogighopa on the Brahmaputra can reduce isolation [9].

• Evaluation:

• The revised logistics cost of 7.97% of GDP (2023-24) shows that planning is now driven by data [3].
• But rail's ~18% share of freight shows that moving cargo from roads to cheaper modes is still the main unfinished task [5].

Read more

• Transport and communication as lifelines; modes compared; integrated planning