Infra investment needs to be scaled up in next 2 decades: Economic Survey
The capital expenditure of the Centre for the current fiscal has been budgeted at about 3.3 times the capex for FY20, according to the Economic Survey.
)
Investment in the infrastructure sector in India needs to be continuously scaled up over the next two decades to sustain a high rate of growth, said the Economic Survey 2024-25 tabled in Parliament on Friday.
"India needs a continued step-up of infrastructure investment over the next two decades to sustain a high rate of growth," the survey said.
In the first quarter of FY25, the constraints on new approvals and spending during the general elections, coupled with heavy monsoon in many regions, affected the progress of the infrastructure spending, said the latest survey.
However, the speed of capex picked up between July and November last year. The capital expenditure of the Centre for the current fiscal has been budgeted at about 3.3 times the capex for FY20, the document said.
It further said that disaster-resilient urbanisation, public transport, preservation and upkeep of heritage sites, monuments and tourist destinations, as well as rural public infrastructure, including connectivity, call for greater attention.
"Our net zero commitments entail added stress on creating renewable energy capacities," it added.
Stating that there are binding budget constraints to the different tiers of government, it said private participation should speed up in many critical infrastructure sectors in many ways like programme and project planning, financing, construction, maintenance, monetisation and impact assessment.
"Our infrastructure programme supports a variety of PPP models like build-operate-transfer (toll and annuity), design-build-finance-operate-transfer, hybrid annuity model and toll-operate-transfer," it said.
The government has instituted many debottlenecking and facilitatory mechanisms like the National Infrastructure Pipeline, National Monetisation Pipeline and PM-Gati Sakti that have made progress.
Financial market regulators have introduced reforms to encourage private participation, it said, adding that still the uptake of private enterprise is limited in many core sectors.
The strategy to step up private participation needs coordinated action of all stakeholders involved like governments at different tiers, financial market players, project management experts and planners, and the private sector.
"Capacities to conceptualise projects, develop sector-specific innovative strategies for execution, and, develop high-expertise areas such as risk and revenue sharing, contract management, conflict resolution and project closure need to improve substantially," it said.
The efforts of the Centre need to be supplemented with wholehearted acceptance of the need for public-private partnerships in infrastructure across the country.
Get Latest Business News, Stock Market Updates and Videos; Check your tax outgo through Income Tax Calculator and save money through our Personal Finance coverage. Check Business Breaking News Live on Zee Business Twitter and Facebook. Subscribe on YouTube.
RECOMMENDED STORIES

LIC Saral Pension Plan: How to get Rs 64,000 annual pension on Rs 10 lakh one-time investment in this annuity scheme that everyone is talking about

Gratuity Calculation: What will be your gratuity on Rs 45,000 last-drawn basic salary for 6 years & 9 months of service?

Rs 1,500 Monthly SIP for 20 Years vs Rs 15,000 Monthly SIP for 5 Years: Know which one can give you higher returns in long term

Income Tax Calculations: What will be your tax liability if your salary is Rs 8.25 lakh, Rs 14.50 lakh, Rs 20.75 lakh, or Rs 26.10 lakh? See calculations

8th Pay Commission Pension Calculations: Can basic pension be more than Rs 2.75 lakh in new Pay Commission? See how it may be possible

SBI Revamped Gold Deposit Scheme: Do you keep your gold in bank locker? You can also earn interest on it through this SBI scheme

Monthly Pension Calculations: Is your basic pension Rs 26,000, Rs 38,000, or Rs 47,000? Know what can be your total pension as per latest DR rates
02:37 PM IST