Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday virtually launched from New Delhi the Land Port Management System (LPMS), a next-generation digital platform aimed at integrating operations across the country’s 15 land ports, including Petrapole in North 24-Parganas, under a single unified framework.

The platform will help modernise India’s border infrastructure and strengthen the management of cross-border trade and passenger movement.

The launch marked a significant milestone in the Centre’s push for smart border management through technology-driven solutions.

The LPMS has been developed to enhance efficiency, transparency and security in the movement of goods and passengers across India’s international land borders while streamlining coordination among multiple agencies operating at these gateways.

The platform will be managed by the Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI), a statutory body under the department of border management in the ministry of home affairs. The authority is entrusted with the development, management and regulation of land ports across the country with the objective of promoting trade, improving connectivity and fostering regional cooperation with neighbouring nations.

With the rollout of LPMS, all 15 operational land ports under the LPAI will be brought onto a single integrated digital network.

Apart from the Petrapole land port in North 24-Parganas, which is the largest land port in Asia, 14 other land ports which includes Attari and Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab on the India-Pakistan border; Rupaidiha in Uttar Pradesh and Raxaul and Jogbani in Bihar on the India-Nepal border; Darranga in Assam on the India-Bhutan border; Dawki in Meghalaya; Sutarkandi, Golakganj and Mankachar in Assam; Agartala, Srimantapur and Sabroom in Tripura on the India-Bangladesh border; and Moreh in Manipur on the India-Myanmar border will be brought under the new system.

Officials said the integration of these ports under a common digital architecture reflects the Centre’s strategic emphasis on facilitating trade, improving border connectivity and strengthening national security through modern technology.

“LPMS is a state-of-the-art digital platform designed to integrate operations across land ports into a unified system. It enables secure, real-time exchange of logistics and regulatory information, bringing land ports at par with digital systems operational at airports and seaports,” said Kamlesh Saini, manager, LPAI-Petrapole.

With the launch of the new system, the exporters and importers expect that the initiative will substantially improve the ease of doing business at land borders, reduce transaction time and costs for traders, and strengthen surveillance and monitoring mechanisms.

“For border states such as West Bengal, where Petrapole serves as India’s busiest gateway for trade with Bangladesh, the new platform is expected to further enhance operational efficiency and facilitate smoother movement of cargo and as well as that of passengers”, an exporter in Calcutta said.