The role of infrastructure in India's development: a survey

• Main Author: Kavita Seshan
• Other Authors: Pradumna Bickram Rana
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Economic development
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/65177
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

India has re-emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. With a population of 1.2 billion and a GOP of USD 1.8 trillion, India is transforming itself from an agrarian economy into a 21 st century nation. 1 An upsurge in investment, coupled with improved macroeconomic fundamentals translated into a distinctly upbeat future outlook, up till 2010/2011. With a growing middle class and close to ten million citizens moving to towns and cities each year, urbanization is occurring on an enormous scale. The growing demand for and wider access to goods and services is however placing a severe strain on the country's infrastructure. How India develops its significant human potential whilst providing quality and efficient infrastructure will determine the future of the country and its people. Against this backdrop, this paper attempts to review the role of infrastructure in India's development strategy, with an emphasis on the investment needs and emerging policy issues. It argues that although India's infrastructure development policy has shown spurts of improvement, much more needs to be done by the Government of India to retain investor confidence, which has noticeably reduced in the last two years. As part of the research methodology, a survey was conducted to assess private sector perspectives on India's current trajectory on infrastructure development and the policies required to increase foreign direct investments in infrastructure financing. The views of 32 representatives from across banking, private equity, consultancies, local infrastructure organizations, foreign trade practitioners and development institutions have been incorporated in this paper.