India Creates Integrated Transport & Logistics Authority for ₹500 Crore-Plus Projects

The Union Cabinet has approved the creation of the Integrated Transport & Logistics Authority (ITLA), a new institutional framework intended to improve coordination across India’s transport and logistics infrastructure.

Approved on October 6, 2026, the authority will function as a Special Purpose Vehicle and serve as an apex institution for integrated transport and logistics planning, research, project appraisal, monitoring and impact assessment.

The move is designed to address the fragmented planning of major infrastructure projects across different ministries and government agencies.

What Will the New Authority Do?

ITLA will coordinate planning across multiple transportation sectors, including roads, railways, ports, aviation and other logistics infrastructure.

One of its key functions will be the appraisal and monitoring of major infrastructure projects.

The authority is expected to focus particularly on projects involving investments of ₹500 crore and above, helping evaluate projects from a wider multimodal perspective.

Instead of looking at individual roads, railway lines, ports or airports in isolation, the new framework aims to examine how different modes of transport can work together.

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National Transport Master Plan

Another major responsibility will be the development of a comprehensive National Transport Master Plan.

The plan is expected to provide a long-term framework for infrastructure planning and could have a horizon of at least 10 years.

ITLA will also work on transport data and analytics, including the creation of a National Transport Data Repository.

This could help government agencies use common datasets while planning new infrastructure and assessing the performance of existing projects.

Why Integrated Planning Matters

India has rapidly expanded its highway, railway, port, airport and logistics networks.

However, individual projects can sometimes be planned by separate agencies without sufficient coordination with other transport systems.

For example, a highway, freight terminal, railway station, airport or port may each require separate connectivity infrastructure.

Integrated planning can help identify these connections earlier and potentially reduce duplication, delays and inefficient investment.

Supporting Multimodal Connectivity

ITLA will complement initiatives such as PM GatiShakti and the National Logistics Policy.

The authority is expected to support multimodal infrastructure by bringing transport planning, project appraisal, monitoring and data analysis under a more coordinated framework.

This could become particularly important as India invests heavily in infrastructure under its long-term development plans.

What It Means for Infrastructure Projects

The creation of ITLA represents a policy shift from individual infrastructure projects toward a more integrated transport system.

For large projects above ₹500 crore, greater emphasis on coordination and impact assessment could influence how investments are evaluated.

Roads, railways, ports, airports and logistics infrastructure could increasingly be assessed as interconnected parts of one national transport network.