Mumbai: India will be investing Rs102,50,704 lakh crore in Infrastructure projects to achieve the targeted $5 trillion economy by 2025, states the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) report released by Union Minister for Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Tuesday. The report projects massive investments in infrastructure projects in – Energy, Roads, Railways, Urban-Rural & Social infrastructure between 2020 and 2025. These sectors alone account for the 80 percent of investment in infrastructure projects, with maximum of investments of Rs 19.5 lakh crore being made in 2021 and Rs 19 lakh crore in 2022.
Between 2008 and 2017, India invested $1.1 trillion on infrastructure, it now needs to spend $1.4 trillion (Rs 100 lakh crore) between 2019 and 2025 to achieve the targeted $5 trillion economy in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) terms. Besides the infrastructure projects, the targeted sectors also include social and economic infrastructure projects as well.
The major constraints listed out in the NIP report in the case of infrastructure projects include – funds for large infrastructure projects, lengthy land acquisition process, payment of compensation, environmental concerns, procedural delays, delays in project implementation and stalled projects. The NIP report has mooted setting up of a monitoring mechanism and periodical reviews to ensure timely implementation of the projects.
The report states that these infrastructure projects will help create jobs, bring ease of living, equitable access to infrastructure for all, thereby making growth inclusive for all. However, the government notes that four state’s – Gujarat, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Bihar have not as yet provided data of infrastructure projects in their state’s.
The NIP report brought out by the Task Force set up by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) states that out of the total investment, sector-wise capital expenditure is as follows – Energy – Rs 24,54,249 lakh crore (24 percent), Roads – Rs 19,63,943 lakh crore (19 percent), Urban infrastructure – Rs 16,29,012 lakh crore (16 percent) and Railways – Rs 13,68,523 lakh crore (70 percent).
Rest of the sector-wise allocation is as follows: Ports – Rs 1,00,923 lakh crore, Airports – Rs 1,43,398 lakh crore, Telecommunications – Rs 3,20,498 lakh crore, Irrigation – Rs 7,72,678 lakh crore, Rural infrastructure – Rs 7,72,765 crore, Agriculture and Food Processing infrastructure – Rs 60,553 crore, Social infrastructure (that includes – Education, Health, Sports and Tourism) – Rs 3,56,701 lakh crore and Industrial infrastructure – Rs 3,07,462 lakh crore.
The total capital expenditure of Rs 102,50,704 lakh crore includes – projects worth Rs 42.7 lakh crore (42 percent) are under implementation, projects worth Rs 32.7 lakh crore (31 percent) are in conceptualization stage, while the rest are under various stages of development (19 percent).
Out of the total projects, 39 percent each are being implemented by the Center and various State governments, while 22 percent are Private sector infrastructure projects. The majority of the infrastructure projects which are under conceptualization stage relate to freight corridors, inter-linking of rivers and renewable energy.
The NIP reports states that by the year 2030, five major states – Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Punjab will have more than 50 percent urbanization. By the year 2030, the number of Metro cities shall increase from 46 metro cities in 2011 to 68 metro cities by the year 2030. By the year 2030, India’s working population would grow by 1.2 times between 2015 and 2030. India will have the worlds largest working population of 1.03 trillion (68 percent) by 2030. In comparison, China’s working population is expected to be 0.97 billion and that of USA 0.72 billion.
At present India is ranked 70 out of 140 countries in terms of Infrastructure quality in Global Competitive Index. In terms of Transparency, India is ranked 66, in terms of Water and Power projects its ranked 100 plus, Roads 72nd rank, Quality of roads 48th and Transport efficiency 59th rank.
