By Admin 
Trans-Caspian International Transport Route: The scope of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is constantly increasing on Global Trade Infrastructure. India is looking for another route to reduce dependence on this.
One such way is the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), also known as the Middle Corridor. Under the leadership of Kazakhstan, work is going on fast. Let us know that China announced Belt and Road Initiative in the year 2013. Its purpose is to connect many continents by land and sea route. The flow of goods, capital, technology and human resources has been promoted among the countries included in its network.
India dislikes BRI
Actually, India does not like some BRI things such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to go through the way of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK). India has always opposed it. India says that this violates their regional sovereignty. In 2024, Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in an interview to ANI, “We are not in favor of CPEC.” We are against it. This is against our regional integrity and sovereignty. However, now the route on which work is going on starts not with Beijing, but from Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan is investing a lot on this network
According to the Economic Times, Kazakhstan is becoming a logistics hub of Eurasia through this middle corridor. India is not directly connected to this network, but by moving fast on this, India can get a chance to reduce dependence on BRI and diversify its trade routes. The Transport Ministry of Kazakhstan said that in 2024, traffic on TITR has increased by 62 percent to 4.5 million tonnes. Container transport increased by 170 percent to 56,500 teu, with 35,600 teu transportation on the China-Europe route, which is 27 times more than the previous year. By 2025, the target is 5.2 million tonnes and 70,000 TEU.
According to The Economic Times report, Kazakistan is investing extensively in its logistic network. In 2025 alone, its plan is to modernize 13,000 km long roads and 6,100 km railway route. Apart from this, the scope of six airports is also to be carried forward and there is a plan to create new marine terminals including a container hub with a capacity of 240,000 Teus in Aktau. By 2029, 11,000 km of other railway lines will also be upgraded.
What does it mean to India?
95 percent of India’s foreign trade is through sea route. Its value is 67 percent. The Suez Canal route to trade with Europe, North Africa and America matters a lot. 35 percent of India’s total foreign trade is done through this route. This Suez Canal creates a sea route for trade between Europe and Asia by connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. Now, since the dominance of Huti rebels in the Red Sea, there is an atmosphere of struggle, most of the global container shipping companies are catching the route around the Suez Canal and instead the Cape of Good Hope. Due to this, the cost of freight has increased by up to 122 percent.
TITR is a land-community multimodal alternative, which can reduce traffic on the sea route, reduce the cost of freight and Indian expotors, especially to export unruly goods in European markets. The most poppy is that Titr connects with India’s International North-South Transport Corridor (Instc) which is a 7,200 km long network that connects Mumbai to Europe through Iran and Russia. Titr and Instc may be different, but they share geographical nodes in the Caspian Sea and Caucasus, especially Azerbaijan. In such a situation, the supply of goods from India can also be done through the Instc and the TITR segment can be adopted to reach Central Asia, Türkiye and Europe.
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