"PM GatiShakti marks a shift from siloed to integrated infrastructure planning." Critically examine this in light of its five-year record.

The PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (PMGS-NMP) was launched in October 2021. It is a GIS-based, Whole-of-Government platform built by BISAG-N, where Central ministries and the States put their infrastructure data on one shared map [1]. Five years on, planning has largely moved out of silos, but execution has not yet caught up.

Evidence of the shift to integration

• One shared map: about 1,800 data layers from 58 Central Ministries/Departments and all 36 States/UTs. Clashes with forests, utilities or settlements now surface before approval, not during construction [1].
• Appraisal as a fixed step: the CCEA approved a three-tier framework: the EGoS (chaired by the Cabinet Secretary), the NPG and the TSU [2]. The NPG has appraised 421 projects worth ₹20.23 lakh crore, testing multimodality and last-mile links [1].
• Cooperative federalism: District Master Plans and social-sector layers such as schools and health facilities carry integrated planning down to the district level [1].
• Openness: the Unified Geospatial Interface (UGI) opened the platform to private planners and the public in 2025 [1].

Limitations of the record

• Appraised is not built: by February 2026, the NPG had evaluated 352 projects, but only 201 were sanctioned and 167 were under implementation (about 47%) [3]. Roads lag far behind Railways: 55 of 164 roads projects were under implementation, against all 83 sanctioned railway projects [3].
• No statutory teeth: the framework is executive, not backed by law. It can flag land, forest and finance problems but cannot resolve them [2].
• Data currency: States update their layers voluntarily, which is why the DUMS uploading system had to be built [1].
• Shaky outcome metrics: the NCAER/DPIIT estimate of 7.97% of GDP for logistics cost uses a new method, so it cannot be compared directly with the old 13–14% figure [4]. India's LPI rank improved from 44 to 38 [5], but the LPI is a perception-based survey [6].

Way forward

• The new ITLA should publish completion dates and cost overruns for every appraised project [1].
• DPIIT should repeat the logistics-cost study at fixed intervals using the same method [4].
• States should treat DUMS uploads as a regular duty, and road projects need faster land acquisition after sanction.

Overall, GatiShakti has solved the information problem of siloed planning but not yet the execution problem. If ITLA tracks outcomes and States keep data current, integrated planning can produce integrated delivery. That would advance SDG-9 on resilient infrastructure and the NLP's top-25 LPI goal for 2030.