India needs 215 multimodal logistics parks by 2047

A new report has found that India will need to develop approximately 215 large-scale multimodal logistics parks by 2047 to manage a projected surge in freight and shift cargo transport from roads to more efficient railways. The analysis, released by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Knight Frank India, outlines the scale of infrastructure required to meet national targets for freight movement.

The report projects that India’s annual freight movement will rise more than fourfold to about 28 billion tonnes by 2047. To achieve a government target of increasing railways' share in freight transport from the current 27.4 percent to 45 percent by that year, Indian Railways would need to handle nearly 12,649 million metric tonnes of freight annually. The study identifies multimodal logistics parks, or MMLPs, as integrated hubs connecting rail, road, and ports with warehousing, as crucial to enabling this shift.

Currently, India’s freight ecosystem remains heavily dependent on roads, which account for nearly 70 percent of freight movement by ton-kilometre, despite rail freight costing almost half as much. The report notes that India has only 30 operational MMLPs handling around...