Fragmented, mode-wise transport planning has raised India's logistics costs. Examine how the Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority (ITLA) seeks to address this, and what its limitations are.

In India, each ministry plans its own transport mode: roads, railways, shipping, aviation and urban mobility. The CAG found an "absence of an integrated approach" even across Railway zones [2]. Official logistics cost is now 7.97% of GDP [3], but freight still moves on costlier modes. ITLA, approved on 6 October 2026, is India's first apex body for planning across modes [1].

How ITLA addresses fragmentation

• One long-horizon plan: a National Transport Master Plan (NTMP) of 10+ years covering eight segments, including inland waterways, coastal shipping and urban mobility [1].
• Plan alignment: checks ministries' ~5-year sectoral plans and annual plans against the NTMP [1].
• Appraisal and ex-post review: ITLA does technical appraisal of central projects of ₹500 crore or more, monitors them and assesses their impact after completion [1]. This targets the sequencing failure behind ₹1.07 lakh crore of overruns across 442 railway projects [4].
• Evidence-based planning: the National Transport Data Repository combines GSTN e-way bill, FASTag, Vahan and GPS data for origin–destination freight analysis [1].
• Modal shift: planning across modes can advance the National Rail Plan goal of raising rail's freight share from 27% to 45% by 2030 [5].
• Policy coherence: ITLA complements PM GatiShakti and the National Logistics Policy, and will help update NLP 2022 [1].

Limitations

• A planner without a purse: financial appraisal stays with the existing bodies. Nothing says an ITLA "misaligned" finding can stop a project [1].
• Overlap: MoSPI's PAIMANA portal already tracks 1,702 central projects of ₹150 crore and above [6]. The Network Planning Group under PM GatiShakti also examines projects [7]. Large projects may have to report three times, and delay is what drives overruns.
• Unclear legal basis: the backgrounder names no Act, nodal ministry or composition [1].
• Federal gap: urban mobility is largely a state subject, yet no mechanism for states is specified [1].
• Data governance: merging vehicle and tax data needs safeguards under the DPDP Act, 2023.

ITLA fills a real gap: no one was planning across modes or checking outcomes. To give it force, an ITLA appraisal should be required before the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) clears projects. Ministries that go against ITLA's advice should record their reasons. ITLA's appraisals should have time limits, it should draw on PAIMANA data and states should take part. Done well, ITLA can help reach the NLP's top-25 Logistics Performance Index goal [8] and Viksit Bharat 2047.