How Gati Shakti master plan will benefit green logistics in India

The logistics sector is an integral part of the Indian economy. For some years it was growing robustly but with the pandemic in 2020, everything came to a standstill. With things returning to normal, India has decided to step up to ensure smooth logistics by promoting clean fuels. To accomplish this, the Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) will act as a booster to bolster this sector, particularly green logistics.

In 2021, India was the 3rd largest Greenhouse emission country with around 2.35 Gigatonnes of carbon emission, hence it’s an opportune time for the logistics sector to try and reduce its carbon footprint by switching to alternate fuels.

What is Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP)

The Gati Shakti NMP is an economic and sustainable growth approach working on these major engines: roads, airports, railways, logistics infrastructure, waterways, and mass transport.

To manage the program, the Govt. is integrating 24 departments and 6 ministries into the Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) to create a single window logistics platform. This will offer real-time visibility to fill the gap in the movement of goods. With Gati Shakti at the helm, a network will be worked out where roads get easily connected to railway lines that feed into major and minor ports, resulting in the swift and efficient movement of goods.
The next step is the use of alternate fuels that the logistics sector can tap on. Today, due to the poor infrastructure of CNG and LNG pumps, logistics companies are hesitant to use cleaner fuels, but as the government is constantly promoting and taking efforts to use NG as a long-haul transportation fuel, it will certainly become a reliable choice due to its lower storage costs and lesser emission. The Govt. is planning to set up 1000 LNG stations across India in the next few years.

Boosting green logistics

The govt. plan to bolster green logistics has the capability to enhance operations significantly in terms of time, cost, tracking, transport infrastructure, reliability, and transparency. To be relevant in the evolving industry, the logistics companies must adapt to the change and push toward a green and carbon-neutral economy.