Ports, roads to get major investment boost in India, cargo volume to grow up to 8 per cent: Report

The cargo volumes in India are expected to grow 6-8 per cent in the current fiscal year on the back of healthy growth in the container and coal segments, amid increased government capital outlay across roads, ports, and airport infrastructure, a report said on Wednesday.

Credit agency ICRA forecasts increased spending on transportation infrastructure projects, including on roads, ports and airports over the coming years, benefiting from solid government support, rising capital outlays and a large pipeline of projects.The government has planned a large capex under its 'Maritime India Vision 2030' to augment port capacity and infrastructure over the next decade.

This could bring about supply-demand mismatches in a few clusters, resulting in increased competition and pricing pressure for ports, said the report.ICRA expects India's government to maintain a strong focus on road sector investments through increasing capital outlays.

The Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways' (MoRTH) budgetary allocation for the sector has increased by more than 8 times over the past decade to Rs 2.7 lakh crore in fiscal 2025, reflecting a 22 per cent compound annual growth rate.

"India's road construction will likely grow 5-8 per cent to 12,500 km-13,000 km in fiscal 2025, following a robust expansion of around 20 per cent in fiscal 2024. This pace of execution will be supported by a healthy pipeline of projects, increased government capital outlay and greater focus on project completion by MoRTH," said Girishkumar Kadam, ICRA's Senior Vice President and Group Head, Corporate Ratings.

According to the rating agency, investments in airport infrastructure will also remain healthy at around Rs 55,000 crore-Rs 60,000 crores of committed capex over the next 3-4 years channelled toward projects including new greenfield airports, brownfield development and airport expansions under the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Overall passenger traffic at airports will likely grow at a healthy 8-11 per cent to around 407 million-418 million passengers in fiscal 2025 from fiscal 2024, the report said.