New transport authority ITLA aims to improve India's logistics network

The newly established Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority comes as India integrates its infrastructure into a multimodal framework. The ITLA is a special purpose vehicle under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade within the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It seeks to fix the lack of coordination among different transport modes as the Prime Minister's GatiShakti initiative moves forward. While official statements call ITLA an apex body, critics note that naming it so does not automatically make it one. It is designed as an expert arm of the department rather than an institution above departmental interests.

Structure and Challenges

The biggest limit on ITLA is how much influence it can exercise over various ministries and agencies. Its special purpose vehicle structure helps with operational independence, but if the final word rests with the concerned ministry, its status remains largely advisory. True independence would require a professionally selected, fixed-tenure leader instead of a deputation-driven bureaucracy, guaranteed access to transport data, an independent budget, and a way to solve disputes between stakeholders. The Prime Minister's GatiShakti already uses a Network Planning Group to check major central infrastructure projects for multimodality and last-mile connectivity. By the end of August 2026, this group had evaluated 396 projects worth 18.66 lakh crore rupees, with 256 sanctioned and 198 under implementation. ITLA could complement this by looking at the wider transport economics of projects, such as deciding whether to build a highway or improve a railway line.

Goals and Data Integration

ITLA may face institutional resistance from ministries that are reluctant to change their investment priorities. State governments in a federal structure might also have different goals, especially when double-engine governance is absent. Railways, road transport, port operators, state governments, and urban transport agencies all have their own rules, making coordination tedious. Projects also face delays from land needs, environmental approvals, and legal disputes. Divergent reporting standards and delayed data sharing could also hurt the reliability of ITLA's work. Despite these hurdles, ITLA aims to steer planning into better investment decisions, multimodal connectivity, and lower logistics costs. The National Council for Applied Economic Research estimated India's logistics cost at 7.97 percent of gross domestic product during 2023 and 2024. ITLA will prepare a National Transport Master Plan looking ahead at least ten years, while its proposed National Transport Data Repository will combine data from sources like FASTag, GST e-way bills, Vahan, and GPS systems to analyze freight flows.

Context

High logistics costs in a large economy like India add extra expense to every item produced, traded, or exported. Better coordination between railways, roads, and shipping helps move goods faster and cheaper across the country.