PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan

The PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan is a digital, map-based platform that brings all the government's infrastructure plans onto one screen. Roads, railways, ports, airports, gas pipelines, power lines, telecom cables and many other layers are shown together on a map of India. "Gati Shakti" means "power of speed". The idea is that when every department can see what the others are building, projects can be planned together, built faster and cost less.

Why does it exist?

Before Gati Shakti, each ministry planned its own projects in its own office. A familiar example: a new road is built, and a few months later another department digs it up to lay a water pipe or an optical fibre cable. Or a port is built, but the rail line to bring goods to it comes years later.

Such gaps waste money, delay projects and keep India's logistics costs high. Gati Shakti tries to replace this "working in silos" with integrated planning, where every project is checked against all others before it is approved.

Where did it come from?

• The plan was launched on 13 October 2021 with a target size of about ₹100 lakh crore of infrastructure investment.
• On 21 October 2021, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the plan and its institutional framework.
• The digital platform was built by BISAG-N (Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics), Gandhinagar, using satellite images and GIS (computer maps with many data layers).
• It started with 16 Ministries. Later, the National Logistics Policy (September 2022) was launched to complement it: Gati Shakti handles the hard infrastructure, the policy handles the soft side (processes, digital systems, skills).
• On 6 October 2026, the Union Cabinet approved a new body, the Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority (ITLA), set up as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). It will make a long-term national transport plan, do technical appraisal of central projects of ₹500 crore or more, and check how projects perform after they are finished. Gati Shakti stays the shared map; ITLA adds deeper, long-term planning on top of it.

The seven engines

The plan rests on seven "engines" of growth:

1. Railways
2. Roads
3. Ports
4. Waterways
5. Airports
6. Mass transport
7. Logistics infrastructure

These are supported by energy transmission, IT and communication, bulk water and sewerage, and social infrastructure.

The six pillars

The plan is built on six principles:

• Comprehensiveness: all existing and planned projects of all ministries on one portal.
• Prioritisation: departments can rank projects by looking at gaps across sectors.
• Optimisation: it helps pick the best route or location, saving time and money.
• Synchronisation: ministries work at the same time and in the same order, so one does not wait for another.
• Analytical: all data on one GIS platform with hundreds of layers allows better analysis.
• Dynamic: progress can be seen and reviewed in real time using satellite images.

How does it work? (the three-tier structure)

• Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS): chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, with secretaries of infrastructure ministries as members and the head of the Logistics Division as Member Convenor. It reviews and monitors the plan and can approve changes to it.
• Network Planning Group (NPG): made up of the heads of network planning divisions of the infrastructure ministries. It examines projects to make sure they fit with other networks and avoid duplication. The Logistics Division of DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, under the Ministry of Commerce) works as its secretariat, that is, its support office.
• Technical Support Unit (TSU): a team of domain experts (aviation, rail, roads, ports, power, GIS, finance and others) that supports the NPG with analysis.

All logistics and connectivity projects costing more than ₹500 crore are routed through the NPG. Since April 2022, proposals sent to the Public Investment Board (PIB), the body that appraises large public projects, must say whether the NPG has examined them. A simple way to picture the NPG: it is like a town planning committee that checks every building plan against the whole city map before approving it.

Key facts and progress

• As of October 2026, 58 Central Ministries/Departments and all 36 States and Union Territories are on the platform, with about 23,493 data layers (up from about 1,700 in 2025).
• As of October 2026, the NPG had evaluated 421 projects worth about ₹20.23 lakh crore (up from about 293 projects worth ₹13.59 lakh crore in August 2025).
• Original targets for 2024-25 included a national highway network of 2 lakh km, 220 new airports, heliports and water aerodromes, and doubling the gas pipeline network to about 34,500 km.
• States have their own State Master Plans on the same pattern, and the approach is being taken to the district level.

India's position and Indian examples

Gati Shakti is used to plan the alignment of new rail lines and highways, to choose sites for logistics parks and economic zones, and to find gaps in "first-mile and last-mile" connectivity to ports and industrial clusters. Ministries such as Railways and Road Transport use its layers to avoid forests, water bodies and other projects when choosing a route. It has also been used for planning in social sectors, like locating new schools and health centres.

Commonly confused concepts

• PM Gati Shakti vs National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP): The NIP (2019) is a list of projects with investment targets. Gati Shakti is a planning and coordination platform that helps decide how those projects fit together.
• PM Gati Shakti vs Bharatmala and Sagarmala: Bharatmala (roads) and Sagarmala (ports and coastal development) are sector programmes that build projects. Gati Shakti is the common map on which all such programmes are planned together.
• PM Gati Shakti vs National Logistics Policy: Gati Shakti is about physical infrastructure planning; the policy is about processes, digital systems, skills and cost of moving goods.
• NPG vs PIB: The NPG checks whether a project fits the network (integration). The PIB checks whether it is financially sound and worth the money.
• PM Gati Shakti vs Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority (ITLA): Gati Shakti is a planning tool and platform: a shared map plus the NPG checks. It has no long-term planning staff of its own. ITLA (approved October 2026) is an institution that makes a long-term transport master plan, runs a National Transport Data Repository and assesses projects after they are built.
• Gati Shakti vs Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya: The university in Vadodara (under the Ministry of Railways) trains people for transport and logistics. It is a separate institution.

Issues, criticism and the way forward

• Data quality: The platform is only as good as the data ministries and states upload. Old or missing layers can mislead planners.
• Advisory nature: The NPG recommends; final decisions remain with ministries. Without a statutory body, integration depends on cooperation.
• State capacity: Many states and districts lack trained GIS staff to use the platform fully.
• Private sector access: Industry wants more access to the data for planning its own investments, while some data is sensitive for security reasons.
• Way forward: Experts suggest stronger institutions for long-term multimodal planning, better data sharing, and linking planning with project monitoring and impact assessment. The ITLA, approved in October 2026, is a step in this direction. Both ITLA and the NPG look at projects above ₹500 crore, so how their roles fit together is still to be worked out.

Concepts to Know

• GIS (Geographic Information System): A computer system that shows many kinds of data (roads, rivers, forests, pipelines) as layers on a map.
• Multimodal connectivity: Moving goods or people using more than one mode of transport (for example, truck to rail to ship) in a smooth, linked way.
• Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV): A separate body set up by the government for one specific job, so that it can work with its own team and focus.
• Logistics: Everything involved in moving and storing goods: transport, warehouses, loading, paperwork and tracking.
• Data layer: One type of information on a map, such as all railway lines or all forest areas.
• Appraisal: A careful check of a project before approval, to see if it is needed, well designed and worth its cost.