India is an economy which in the past few years has been expanding at a furious pace. But sadly, its infrastructure has failed to keep pace. And that too miserably. While India has been harbouring ambitions of reaching the 10% mark as far as GDP growth is concerned, sustaining it may not be possible unless there is a massive ramp up in infrastructure.
India's population has been rising and with this, the country's cities are also bursting at the seams. More and more people have migrated to urban cities in their quest for better prospects. But the standard of living has not really improved. Crumbling infrastructure has been a big deterrent in this regard. Potholed roads, power shortages and irregular water supply are issues that have continued to hound citizens. The Indian government seems to have realised this. Therefore, if the newly appointed minister for urban development is to be believed, the government is planning to reach out to private and foreign investors to help build its rapidly expanding cities through public-private partnerships (PPPs).
Indeed, the government appears to be quite keen in attractive investments and is looking to hard sell its infrastructure story and the big potential there. As published in a leading business daily, India needs to spend US$ 1.2 trillion by 2030 to meet the projected demand of its cities. There will be 590 m Indians living in cities by then. That is nearly twice the current population of the US.
While the government's intention is in the right direction, on the execution front, it is sadly lacking. Time and again, it has not been able to stick to its targets on account of various issues. Surely, if the government shows some determination and commitment when it comes to execution, it will not find it that hard to attract the necessary funds. And then the GDP growing in double digits could be a regular feature, indeed!
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