Infra space: Crisil for more policy, regulatory reforms

MUMBAI: With the government earmarking USD 1 trillion for infrastructure over the next five years, Crisil has pitched for urgent reforms in policy and regulatory areas to ensure that benefits of the progress achieved reach the bottom of the pyramid.

"Infrastructure segments like power, road and ports have significantly evolved over the years mainly due to reforms, private sector interest and strong investment flows. Today, they are at a point which calls for the next level of initiatives to reap the fruits of the first wave of reforms and policy initiatives," Crisil Infrastructure Advisory president Sameer Bhatia told PTI here.

Saying that the first wave was oriented towards sharing responsibility with the private sector in developing infrastructure, he said, "the next wave has to be oriented towards ensuring that the desired benefits are available to the man on the street in an efficient manner."

Citing the example of power sector, Bhatia said, "regulations led to implementation of key reforms like de-licensing in generation, unbundling of utilities leading to development of a competitive power market.

"Now, the sector requires next genre of reforms in terms of realisation of open access to provide end-consumers the option of choosing suppliers, technology transformation and upgrade in transmission and distribution, as well as more private sector participation in distribution," he said.