In today’s Policy Mandala, we are decoding the logistics that keep a nation moving. Before we delve into the details, let us take you to Jaigarh.
Not the famous Jaigarh Fort in Rajasthan, but Jaigarh Port on Maharashtra’s western coast. And a rather interesting problem that emerged there.
What could prevent a port from handling containers? Insufficient land? Inadequate port infrastructure?
At Jaigarh, neither was the immediate problem.
In 2023, a Parliamentary Standing Committee examined a rather unusual situation. Jaigarh had the necessary land and port infrastructure, but it could not handle container traffic because it lacked major railway connectivity.
The port had been built, but an essential connection between the port and the country’s freight network was missing.
The Committee highlighted the issue as part of a larger problem affecting Indian ports: infrastructure can be available, yet its potential remains underutilised when the roads and railways connecting it to the hinterland are inadequate.
What good is a major infrastructure investment if the connections needed to make it useful do not arrive?
On 6 October 2026, the Union Cabinet approved the establishment of the Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority (ITLA), a new institution intended to address such challenges in India’s transport planning.
But what exactly is ITLA, and how does it fit into India’s larger effort to connect its roads, railways and ports?
ITLA will be established as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to strengthen integrated transport planning. It will prepare a National Transport Master Plan looking at least ten years ahead, covering roads, railways, ports, aviation, waterways and urban transport.
ITLA will assess whether ministries’ five-year and annual plans align with this vision. It will also technically appraise Central Government infrastructure projects costing ₹500 crore or more, monitor implementation and evaluate outcomes. Financial appraisal will continue through existing mechanisms.
Additionally, a National Transport Data Repository will integrate FASTag, GSTN e-way bills, Vahan and GPS data to understand freight movement and identify bottlenecks.
The ambition is significant. But why does India need such an institution?
The answer lies in how our transport infrastructure is currently governed.
Roads, railways, ports and airports fall under different Union ministries. States control important connecting infrastructure, while private businesses operate trucks, warehouses, container terminals and shipping services.
Each institution is responsible for its part, but no single institution is accountable for the entire journey of goods.
This situation creates three challenges.
First, fragmented responsibilities. Different institutions make decisions according to their mandates and priorities. A decision that benefits the complete logistics network may not be equally important to every institution involved.
Second, fragmented long-term planning. A highway, railway line or port may be planned independently, without fully anticipating how developments in one will affect demand for the others.
Third, fragmented budgets. Each ministry finances its projects, but interconnected investments may need to be completed together to deliver their intended benefits.
You see, policy is rarely linear. We often jokingly say that in policymaking, 2 + 2 may not become 4, because each 2 does not know what the other 2 is doing.
The challenge is to bring these institutions into one room, align their decisions and ensure that their investments work together.
But has India not attempted such an approach before? It certainly has.
In 2006, India established the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) to develop dedicated railway tracks for goods movement. Today, its two corridors span over 2,800 km, carrying around 443 freight trains daily, helping goods move faster while freeing capacity on existing tracks for passenger trains.
A National Transport Development Policy Committee, established in 2010, later recommended an independent Office of Transport Strategy to coordinate investments across transport modes.
The government established National Highways Logistics Management Limited in 2020 to develop multimodal logistics parks.
Subsequently, PM GatiShakti was launched in 2021 to integrate infrastructure planning across ministries, followed by the National Logistics Policy in 2022, focused on improving logistics efficiency and digital integration.
And the progress is visible. PM GatiShakti now covers 58 Central Ministries and Departments and all 36 States and Union Territories. Its Network Planning Group has evaluated 421 projects worth approximately ₹20.23 lakh crore.
Yet planning together does not always mean implementing together. The same 2023 Parliamentary Committee that highlighted Jaigarh noted that consultation mechanisms already existed, but implementation remained a concern.
It recommended planning connectivity from the outset, with all relevant agencies involved. So, identifying missing links is one challenge. Getting them built is another.
But what if the institutions responsible for different parts of a project could come together and share responsibility for its development?
Tamil Nadu offers an example of this approach. Chennai Multi-Modal Logistics Park Private Limited brings together National Highways Logistics Management Limited, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, Chennai Port Authority and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation through a common project vehicle to develop interconnected road, rail and logistics infrastructure.
The project remains under development, but its institutional arrangement demonstrates how different agencies can share responsibility.
So, is ITLA another policy being developed in isolation? Not quite.
It builds on years of reforms, shifting India from developing individual assets towards planning an integrated transport network. As discussed in an earlier Policy Mandala, PM GatiShakti has sought to break ministerial silos. ITLA could take this further.
The economic stakes are significant. NCAER’s 2025 assessment estimated India’s logistics expenditure at ₹24.01 lakh crore, or 7.97% of GDP in 2023–24. Even modest efficiency gains could benefit businesses and the wider economy.
However, an August 2026 parliamentary reply clarified that approvals, funding and implementation still rest with individual ministries and states.
In simple words, India has improved its ability to plan together. Deciding who acts, who pays and when connections are completed remains another challenge.
Through long-term planning, technical appraisal, monitoring and issue resolution, ITLA could bridge GatiShakti’s planning framework and coordinated implementation.
But a common plan does not guarantee coordinated action.
Hence, ITLA’s institutional design will matter.
The government’s Cabinet announcement outlines ITLA’s responsibilities, but two questions remain about how it will exercise them.
First, what authority will ITLA have, and how will it complement PM GatiShakti?
PM GatiShakti already coordinates infrastructure planning across ministries. ITLA could serve as a guiding institution, identifying missing links and recommending changes to ministerial plans.
But what happens when a ministry disagrees with its recommendation? Will there be a mechanism to resolve disagreements and ensure follow-up, or can ministries simply proceed with their existing plans?
The objective should be to strengthen existing mechanisms, not add another layer of approvals.
And second, how will ITLA influence funding and implementation?
A major port investment may depend on a smaller connecting road or railway siding. Can ITLA anticipate infrastructure needs across industries, private operators, ministries and states, and recommend how investments should be aligned?
After all, ministries control their own budgets, while private investment depends on commercial viability, which government planning alone cannot guarantee.
So, the success of ITLA will depend on what changes on the ground.
The number of projects reviewed or datasets collected alone cannot tell us whether the authority is successful.
What matters is whether goods move faster, delays reduce, connecting infrastructure is completed together and logistics costs come down.
For now, ITLA builds on earlier planning reforms and offers a promising institutional direction. Yet public information explains what ITLA intends to do more clearly than how its recommendations will translate into coordinated action. Greater clarity on its authority, relationship with existing institutions and operating arrangements is needed.
Let us return to Jaigarh.
The problem highlighted in 2023 was not simply that a port needed a railway connection. It was that the usefulness of one infrastructure investment depended on another, managed through a different institutional process.
India has invested substantially in transport infrastructure. The challenge now is making those investments work together.
ITLA may help India plan transport as one system. Its real test will be whether it can help make that system function as one.
Co-Authored by: Kumar Subham & Avdhesh Pathak
