Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday announced Gati Shakti's ambitious master plan of Rs 100 lakh crore to provide multimodal connectivity to more than 1,200 industrial districts, including two defense corridors across the country. “We are laying a foundation for the next 25 years. This national master plan will give 'gatishakti' to development plans of the 21st century and will help in the timely completion of these plans," the Prime Minister said after launching the plan.

The goal is to ensure integrated planning and implementation of infrastructure projects over the next four years, with a focus on accelerating fieldwork, cost savings, and job creation. The Gati Shakti Scheme will include a National Infrastructure Pipeline worth Rs 110 lakh crore which was launched in 2019. Apart from reducing logistics costs, the scheme also aims to increase cargo handling capacity and reduce delivery times at ports to increase trade.

It also aims to have 11 industrial corridors and two new defense corridors one in Tamil Nadu and the other in Uttar Pradesh. The expansion of 4G connectivity to all villages is another goal. Plans are being made to add 17,000 km to the pipeline. This will help meet the government's ambitious goals for 202425, including extending the length of the national highway, network to 2 lakh km, creating more than 200 new airports, heliports, and marine aerodromes.

The integrated approach intends to bring together 16 ministries related to infrastructure. This will help eliminate long-standing problems such as disjointed planning, lack of standardization, problems with permits, and the timely creation and use of infrastructure capacity. Furthermore, there may be top-notch readability on how our diverse areas and commercial facilities are connected, in particular for long-distance connectivity.

A holistic and incorporated shipping connectivity approach will significantly aid Make in India and combine more than one mode of shipping. It will allow India to emerge as the enterprise capital of the world. PM Gati Shakti is a step towards the proper direction.

That said, it faces structural and macroeconomic balance issues stemming from excessive public spending. Therefore, these projects ought to be supported via solid and predictable regulatory and institutional framework.