Business   

Investment in infrastructure to be hiked to 9 p.c. of GDP

— PHOTO: R. V. MOORTHY

SCALING UP: (from right) Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Rajiv Lal, Managing Director and CEO, Infrastructure Development Finance Company, Rajat M. Nag, Managing Director-General of Asian Development Bank, and Ajit Gulabchand, Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Construction Company, at the India Economic Summit in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: The Centre proposes to raise the quantum of investment in the infrastructure sector to nine per cent of GDP (gross domestic product) within five years so as to achieve a high 9-10 per cent economic growth projected for the XI Plan (2007-12).

At a session on the prospects of achieving the projected growth rate titled ‘10 per cent growth: The infrastructure picture’ at the India Economic Summit here on Tuesday, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said: “The Cabinet has recently approved the draft of the XI Plan which envisages an increase in infrastructure investment from five per cent of GDP to nine per cent.”

As per the Plan draft, the Government is envisaging an average GDP growth rate of nine per cent during the first four years of the Plan period and an increase to 10 per cent by the terminal year of the five-year Plan.

To achieve the projected level of funding in infrastructure, Dr Ahluwalia said the country would require an investment of $500 billion in the sector during the Plan period. Of this, the major chunk of $350 billion would be ploughed in as per the business-as-usual forecast, he said. In effect, the balance funding of $150 billion would be required to be arranged from various other sources, including the global financial market.

Dr. Ahluwalia felt that such a level of financing would not be a problem as “specific policies are in place for achieving a jump in investment”. In an optimistic note, Asian Development Bank (ADB) Managing Director-General Rajat Nag felt that it would be possible for India to exceed the Planning Commission’s target and raise the level of investment in infrastructure to 10.5-12.5 per cent of the GDP in the years to come.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

GAIL, RIL to set up units abroad
Investment in infrastructure to be hiked to 9 p.c. of GDP
Yamaha rolls out sports bikes
DLF, Prudential float AMC
Siemens’ power transformer plant goes on stream
16 FDI proposals worth Rs. 647 crore cleared
BHEL plans two units in U.P.
Sensex loses 74 points
Rupee extends gains
S4 Ind Software buys U.S. firm
Exchange Rates
Bullion Rates

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu