Cabinet Approves the Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority: One Planner for Roads, Rail, Ports and Airports
On 6 October 2026, the Union Cabinet approved a new body called the Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority (ITLA).
ITLA is being set up as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry. (An SPV is a separate unit created for one specific job.)
It will prepare a National Transport Master Plan with a planning horizon of ten years or more. The plan will cover roads, railways, ports and shipping, civil aviation, inland waterways, coastal shipping, urban mobility and logistics.
It will do a technical appraisal (an expert check) of transport and infrastructure projects costing ₹500 crore or more, monitor how they are built, help solve problems between agencies, and study their impact after completion.
It will build a unified transport data repository by joining data from GST e-way bills, FASTag, Vahan (vehicle registration), GPS-based systems and city traffic systems.
The aim is to end "fragmented" planning, where each transport ministry plans on its own, and to bring down India's logistics costs.
Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority (ITLA)
The Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority (ITLA) is a central government body that plans India's transport system as one connected network. Instead of roads, railways, ports and airports each planning separately, ITLA looks at all of them together. It prepares a long-term National Transport Master Plan, checks big transport projects, and keeps one shared pool of transport data. The Union Cabinet approved its creation on 6 October 2026.
The Cabinet decision creates ITLA for the first time. It moves India from separate planning by each transport ministry to one long-term, data-based transport plan. Its ₹500 crore appraisal threshold and its data repository are the parts most likely to change how big projects are chosen and linked.
PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan
The PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan is a digital, map-based platform that puts the infrastructure plans of many ministries on one screen. Roads, railways, ports, airports, pipelines, power lines and telecom cables appear as layers on a map of India. This helps planners see clashes and gaps before work starts. It was launched on 13 October 2021.
ITLA builds on Gati Shakti. Reports say transport planning needed deeper study than the Gati Shakti Network Planning Group could give, so ITLA will take on long-term master planning, project appraisal and data analysis, using the same "whole of government" idea.
National Logistics Policy, 2022
The National Logistics Policy (NLP) is the government's plan to make moving goods across India cheaper, faster and more reliable. Gati Shakti deals with building physical infrastructure; the NLP deals with rules, processes, digital systems and skills. It was launched on 17 September 2022.
One of ITLA's listed jobs is to advise on reviewing the National Logistics Policy and to build skills in the logistics sector. Its data repository supports the NLP's goal of data-driven planning to lower logistics costs.
- ITLA approved by the Union Cabinet: 6 October 2026
- Form: Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry
- National Transport Master Plan horizon: 10 years or more
- Project threshold for appraisal and monitoring: ₹500 crore and above
- Data sources: GSTN e-way bills, FASTag, Vahan, GPS systems, urban traffic systems
- India's logistics cost: 7.97% of GDP (2023-24), 8.84% (2022-23)
- World Bank LPI 2023: India 38th of 139 (44th in 2018)
- PM Gati Shakti launched: 13 October 2021; National Logistics Policy launched: 17 September 2022
- NTDPC (Rakesh Mohan) report: February 2014