GatiShakti-NIP-NMP trinity: Catapulting India into the next stage of growth cycle

As India embarks on its journey of $5 trillion economy, the importance of more supply side initiatives cannot be undermined. In line with the concepts of completely in-house manufacturing such as “AtmaNirbhar Bharat” and “Make in India”, the government is intent to push infrastructure development at par with global standards for the overall success.

Various policy level initiatives being taken for infrastructure development in key sectors, especially in promotion of manufacturing sector, will lead to rapid urbanization and demographic transitions across states. For this, a host of infrastructure facilities will be required such as water, sanitation, power supply, transportation, digital, etc.

This will increase the demand for an efficient movement of goods and services across the value chain. In FY20-21, the Indian economy suffered massively due to pandemic induced disruptions and registered a de-growth of -6.6%. While the economy witnessed a sharp rebound in FY22 registering a growth of 8.7%, there is still a lot of ground to cover to reach pre-pandemic economic levels. The Government has recognized ‘comprehensive infrastructure development’ as a key lever to accelerate the economyboosting employment & income levels and put it back on the fast lane of growth.

This is also evident in the infrastructure fueled Union Budget for FY23 where capital expenditure has been enhanced sharply by 35.4% to Rs 7.50 lakh crore from Rs 5.54 lakh crore in FY22. To realize the goal of infrastructure led growth, the Government has adopted a 3-pronged approach laying impetus on– (a) Integrated infrastructure planning; (b) Asset Creation; and (c) Asset Recycling & resource generation. National-level programs aligned to the aforementioned principles have been introduced. ‘Asset Creation’ through the launch of Rs 111 Lakh Crore National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP ); ‘Asset Recycling and resource generation’ through Rs 6 lakh Cr. National Monetization Pipeline (NMP ) and ‘Integrated infrastructure planning’ through the PM Gatishakti comprehensive master plan.

PM GatiShakti-NMP aims to achieve nation-wide integrated infrastructure development by integrating all economic zones through a network of multimodal connectivity infrastructure. This in turn creates a logistics interface capability resulting in reduced logistics costs and improved competitiveness. Infrastructure projects under NIP form the base for GatiShakti. A digital platform has been established in which existing and proposed infrastructure are being mapped using GIS-based ERP.

It is envisaged that in the near future, National and State master plans will be merged on a single GatiShakti platform that will be globally accessible and aligned across all GoI and State departments. In tune with the vision of PM GatiShakti, GoI initiated the process to integrate systems of various ministries dealing with logistics related transactions under one platform. Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) has been designed as a national open data ecosystem for enabling private players to get access of data available with various govt. systems through a unified interface.

The logistics sector is poised to be benefited immensely with the transparency created by the open access to the datasets laying with government systems. Some of the digitally enabled logistic systems that are being integrated through ULIP include LDB of NICDC, FASTag of NPCI, Vahan Saarthi of MORTH, etc. ULIP ensures all modes of operators are under a uniform interface and assist in JIT inventory management, minimal documentation, real-time information,

faster movement of goods, and lower inventory carrying cost. ULIP’s immense benefits for all stakeholders of the sector, includes, (i) Government Agencies-through assistance in data-based policy making and promotion of ease of doing business; (ii) Logistics Service Providers-through simplification of tedious documentation process and real-time monitoring & tracking (iii) Industry Players-through reliable supply & delivery of goods and discovery of transparent pricing, and (iv) Consumers-through lower waiting time and economical costs of goods. Presently, India is at the cusp of entering into the phase of consistent high growth considering recent innovative reforms undertaken by the GoI in Industrial and Infrastructure space. The world is also looking at India to provide much-needed growth momentum to the global engine especially in post-pandemic era. With the advent of GatiShakti-NIP-NMP trinity, a world-class infrastructure is expected to be delivered swiftly, thus accelerating India’s growth.

The writer is Vice President – Corporate Affairs, HR & Company Secretary, National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC)