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Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday inaugurated a state-of-the-art Land Port Management System (Vinimay), a certified digital platform to modernise and streamline operations across India's land ports, marking a significant step toward modernising the country's border infrastructure.
The newly launched system is aimed at transforming land ports into efficient hubs of trade, security, and international connectivity. Highlighting the initiative, Shah said the project aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of strengthening India's borders as dynamic corridors for commerce and global engagement. The system is expected to streamline operations at land ports, enhance border security mechanisms, and facilitate smoother cross-border trade. It will also help integrate advanced technology into port management, improving coordination among various agencies. The initiative will position land ports as key gateways for international relations while ensuring a balance between trade facilitation and national security. Addressing a gathering here in the national capital after inaugurating the LPMS, Shah said the new system will turn our land ports into the meeting points of border trade and security, and that the step is taken, realising PM Modi's vision of rebuilding our borders as robust arteries of trade and commerce and gateways to international relations. The LPMS enables seamless coordination between multiple stakeholders, including customs, immigration, border guarding forces, and other stakeholders. Shah further said the LPMS and "smart borders" together will create a more secure and modern border management system, assuring the prevention of illegal activities and the establishment of a secure framework Noting that fifteen land ports are currently operational in the country, Shah said there is plan to develop 11 more over the next three years. With the launch of the LPMS, he mentioned that 90 per cent of paperwork has been eliminated, and that a single electronic window and 40-60 per cent reduction in processing time have laid a new digital foundation for "smart borders". Stating that land ports play a crucial role in reducing migration pressure from border districts and strengthening local economies, the Home Minister mentioned that land port trade has grown from Rs 5,000 crore in 2014 to Rs 83,000 crore today. "Under the Modi government's 12 years, trade through land ports has increased sixteenfold," said Shah. Through the LPMS, Shah alao said that real-time data sharing among the Indian Customs Electronic Gateway (ICEGATE), the Motor Vehicle System, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), the Border Security Force (BSF), the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), and the Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) on a single platform will further strengthen coordination among agencies at the border. He further said that the land ports are not merely conduits for trade; they also serve as a security shield, a channel for cultural exchange, and a means to curb migration from border areas. He also pointed out that the land ports authority is emerging as a key pillar of the quadrilateral border security strategy. By bringing cargo movement, vehicle management, and inter-agency coordination onto a single platform, he added that the LPMS has made land ports an integral component of the country's security architecture. (ANI)
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