Fragmented, ministry-wise planning has been a structural constraint on India's transport infrastructure. Examine how the Integrated Transport & Logistics Authority seeks to address this, and evaluate its limitations.

India plans roads, railways, ports, aviation and waterways in separate ministerial silos. Each ministry builds for its own mode, so assets duplicate and freight drifts to roads: rail's freight share fell from about 36% (2007-08) to about 26% (2021-22) [3]. The Integrated Transport & Logistics Authority (ITLA) was approved by the Union Cabinet on 6 October 2026 [1]. It is the first apex body meant to plan across all modes.

How ITLA addresses fragmentation

• Single cross-modal plan: ITLA prepares a National Transport Master Plan covering 10 years or more. It spans roads, rail, ports, aviation, inland waterways, coastal shipping, urban mobility and logistics [1].
• Plan alignment: ministries' ~5-year sectoral plans and annual plans are checked against the Master Plan [1]. A highway and a rail line on the same corridor are no longer planned without regard to each other.
• Project discipline: ITLA does technical appraisal of central projects worth ₹500 crore or more. It also monitors them and does post-implementation impact assessment [1].
• Shared data: the National Transport Data Repository pools e-way bill, FASTag, Vahan and GPS data for freight-flow analytics [1].
• Policy feedback: it advises on reviewing the National Logistics Policy, 2022 [1].

Limitations

• Weak legal teeth: ITLA is an SPV created by Cabinet decision, not by an Act [1]. It can review ministry plans but cannot bind them.
• Institutional overlap: PM GatiShakti's Network Planning Group has already evaluated 352 projects worth ₹16.10 lakh crore [2]. Without a clear division of work, a project may face the NPG, ITLA and financial appraisal one after another.
• Misses the main causes of delay: of 1,820 monitored central projects, 848 were delayed and costs overran by 18.65% [4]. The main causes were land, clearances and funding, and financial appraisal stays outside ITLA [1].
• Federal gap: land and urban mobility are largely State matters. Only 19 States/UTs have notified logistics policies [5].
• Data quality: States' GatiShakti data layers are uneven [2]. Pooling FASTag or Vahan data also needs privacy safeguards.

ITLA rightly moves planning from a mode-wise to a corridor-wise approach, but its value depends on whether it can enforce its plan and coordinate with other bodies. Four steps would strengthen it:

• a clear division of work between ITLA and the NPG;
• a "deliverability" check on land and clearances before projects are approved;
• published appraisal findings;
• statutory backing once ITLA has proven itself.

Progress should be judged against the 45% rail freight-share target for 2030-31 [3]. On that test, an empowered ITLA can deliver cheaper, greener logistics built on cooperative federalism.