Deliver on real time basis in infra sector, says PM

 After the China-led shock to the stock market and Indian investments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked all infrastructure-related ministries to come up with time-bound results, commensurate to funds provided to them.

The warning came at a review meeting of the infrastructure sector that is critical to enhance the investment climate in the country.

The review meeting was called after the biggest fall ever in the stock market, which saw a rout of over Rs 7 lakh crore in one day, and dragged the benchmark indices down to 6 per cent. The rout in equities was precipitated by China’s Yuan devaluation.

The meeting took place late on Monday evening.
“With enough funds now being provided for infrastructure creation, the onus is on the concerned ministries to ensure that these outlays are converted into proportionate outcomes,” the Prime Minister told the meeting attended by ministers and high-level officials of all infrastructure-related ministries among others.

“The Prime Minister directed the concerned departments to monitor progress towards this goal on a real-time basis,” an official statement issued after the meeting said.

Modi also sought details from officials on preparations for providing electricity to all unconnected villages in the country within 1,000 days, a promise he had made in his Independence Day speech.

Modi was apprised of the status of mobile connectivity across the country. He directed officials to explore the possibility of leveraging existing resources, including railways and other communication infrastructure, to provide mobile connectivity in remote, unconnected areas. He emphasised that the targets for digital infrastructure should be synchronised with the targets for the Digital India initiative.

He also reviewed the progress of solar energy related projects, especially with regard to railway stations and airports. The Prime Minister directed that work related to the setting up of railway universities be speeded up. He also called for priority to be assigned to road links with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

‘India can deal with external shocks’

A day after the biggest-ever plunge in markets, RBI Deputy Governor S S Mundra sought to allay fears saying the problems are transient, driven by interconnectedness of the world economies and that India is capable of dealing with any kind of external shocks.

The benchmark Sensex and the broader Nifty had crashed by 1,624.51 points and 490 points, respectively or around 6 per cent each on Monday, marking their biggest single-day falls, on heavy outflows as the rupee tanked 82 paise to a fresh 2-year low of 66.65. However, some sanity returned to markets on Tuesday as the indices closed higher by 290.82 and 71.70 points, respectively.

NSE chief Chitra Ramkrishna too assured that there is no need to panic as in an inter-connected world, global developments are bound to have an impact on all markets.