Infrastructure needs $320 bn in next 5 years

MUMBAI: “India needs an investment of around $320 billion and the investments in infrastructure needs to be increased from the existing 4.55 per cent to about 8 per cent of GDP over the next 5 years,” according to Manoj Vaish, president & CEO – India, Dun & Bradstreet.

He was speaking at a conference on Dynamics of Infrastructure & Real Estate Markets: The Financial Perspective organized by Dun & Bradstreet.

The conference stressed on the importance of infrastructure development as the key driver to sustain this momentum of current and potential economic growth.

“An improvement in the infrastructure would do wonders to the Indian economy with urbanization being of prime importance. Proactive participation from the private sector and the recent focus shown from the government has boosted the sector and there will be an increase in the infrastructure and real estate markets,” Vaish said.

Niranjan Hiranandani, chairman, Hiranandani Developers, said, “although the rates have gone up the real income has also seen an increase and hence we should not only strengthen the infrastructure but also de-regulate. Although the margins will decrease the volumes will increase in the real estate sector and hence the next ten years will be twice as prospective as the previous ten years.”

“The policies that we have are impeccable and world-class but implementation is bad and hence in Maharashtra the Urban Land Ceiling Act should be scrapped whilst the FSI should be raised in certain areas and policies on the Rent Act should be prospectively changed,” he added.

Speaking on social infrastructure initiatives by CIDCO, Nakul Patil, chairman, CIDCO, said, “land is the biggest resource for development in Maharashtra and the 344 square kilometers of Navi Mumbai handed over by the government to CIDCO has housed over 12 lakh people and generated over 3 lakh jobs. Besides being the educational hub of Mumbai it has also been touted as the fourth best city world over in terms of development.”