JOIN USUnmet investment need amounts to Rs 43 lakh cr: FM
India has a huge unmet need for investment in infrastructure, estimated to the tune of Rs 43 lakh crore (about $646 billion) over the next five years, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said.
Addressing the second annual meeting of the New Development Bank (NDB) here, he said 70% of this will be required in power, roads and urban infrastructure sectors.
Pitching for a bigger role for NDB in the country, Jaitley said India has sought loans amounting to $2 billion for various projects from the NDB, which was set up by emerging nations India, China, Brazil, Russia and South Africa.
“We shall work with the NDB to develop a strong shelf of projects in specific areas such as Smart Cities, renewable energy, urban transport, including metro railways, clean coal technology, solid waste management and urban water supply,” he said.
Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jaitley said India alone offers opportunities that could rival those of an entire continent, and “We want to do all this in a cleaner, greener and sustainable way,” he added. This offers an enormous opportunity to an institution like NDB, whose core mandate is sustainable infrastructure development. Jaitley said emerging market economies (EMEs) face newer challenges in the form of inward looking policies of protectionism of some economies, global financial condition and policies of the United States.
“Throughout this challenging time, India has remained a bright spot among the major economies. As per IMF’s assessment in January 2017, India’s growth in 2016 would be 6.6% and is projected to grow at 7.2% and 7.7% in 2017 and 2018,” he said.
The FM said India had successfully implemented a slew of reform measures, including one of the largest currency reform initiatives ever implemented, which will move the Indian economy to a less cash trajectory, increase tax compliance and reduce the threats from counterfeit currency.