The PM Gati Shakti is a National Master Plan for Multi-modal Connectivity, launched as a transformative scheme by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 13, 2021. The plan was announced on August 15, 2021, and approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on October 21, 2021. Its origin lies in the problem of fragmented infrastructure planning, where different ministries worked in silos, leading to time and cost overruns and high logistics costs, which were about 13% of India's GDP. The scheme aims to solve this by ensuring integrated and coordinated planning and execution of infrastructure projects.
The core mechanism is a GIS-based digital platform developed by BISAG-N (Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics), which integrates over 1,614 data layers from 16 to 36 Central Ministries and all 36 States/UTs. This platform uses satellite imagery from ISRO for real-time visualization and spatial planning. Governance is overseen by an Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) and an integrated multimodal Network Planning Group (NPG), which examines projects for approval. The plan connects to and integrates existing infrastructure schemes like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, UDAN, and various industrial corridors. A key recent development is the creation of the Gati Shakti Sanchar Portal, launched in May 2022, to fast-track Right of Way (RoW) approvals for telecom infrastructure. Furthermore, the government has begun allowing private companies access to select data from the portal to aid in infrastructure planning.