MODI HAS A FARSIGHTED AND HOLISTIC PLAN FOR INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
THE WORLD RESPONDS TO MODI’S CLARION CALL TO DEVELOP INFRASTRUCTURE IN INDIA
Recently, Dominic Barton, Global CEO, McKinsey, world’s largest white-shoe consulting firm heaped lavish praises on Prime Minister when he said “Modi has turned India into a magnet.” He further said “India is back on the priority list of the CEOs after Narendra Modi’s ascension to power. People had given up on India. They felt India is too complicated and it was difficult to get anything done. It had dropped in the last five years on people’s priority (list). I think it has gone right back up, people are interested, obviously people are going to want to see action but I think the feeling is they will, because this government seems serious.”
The statement by Dominic Barton reflects the changed perception and confidence of the world economic leaders about India. Since swearing in, Modi has relentlessly worked to put the house in order and set the ball rolling. Thanks to his long and successful innings as Gujarat Chief Minister, his economic agenda was ready even before the Lok Sabha election campaign. Glimpses of it could be seen in his campaign speeches also.
Inspired by American President Franklin Roosevelt’s Hundred Day plan in which Roosevelt used development of infrastructure projects to fend off economic slide during recession in 1930s, Modi also declared infrastructure as his first priority.
While launching MAKE IN INDIA, GLOBAL INITIATIVE in September this year Modi said, “Like Manufacturing Sector, Infrastructure is also very important. India’s infrastructure is not sufficient to meet our goals. Earlier by infrastructure we meant roads, ports, airports….and that is it. We have to upgrade to NEXT GENERATION INFRASTRUCTURE. We need highways and we need i-ways too. When I say i-ways, I mean information ways for DIGITAL INDIA. If we have ELECTRIC GRID then we need GAS GRID as well. We need WATER GRID too. We require OPTICAL FIBER NETWORK too. We dream of a country which offers plenty of opportunities to private players. How to upgrade ourselves from the present public-private partnership model… how to usher in maiden areas? We confined ourselves to development of ports only. The time demands that now we move towards PORT LED DEVELOPMENT. May it be ports, network of warehouses, network of cold storages, roads, rail, we need airport also along with port. Until we develop all these as a cluster, we cannot make our presence felt in the global market and that is why we emphasize on that. This is a big area where you can try your luck. What I mean to say is only this that Infrastructure is not a matter of mere facilities and conveniences. If we want to develop tourism – tourism is estimated to be the industry with maximum growth potential. Can India capture this? So we need a huge infrastructure for tourism too. There is a big scope for hospitality industry in India. There are so many avenues.”
Modi made several big announcements about developing infrastructure since swearing in but first clear picture appeared in the first Rail and General Budget of the Modi government. These budgets touched every aspect of infrastructure and announced measures to energies this sector.
For instance on infrastructural front, the Railway Budget 2014 proposed to set up a Diamond Quadrilateral rail network connecting major metros apart from announcing a bullet train. The Rail Budget has also proposed to attract private domestic investment and FDI in infrastructure.
Carrying forward Narendra Modi’s development mantra of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while presenting his maiden Budget announced a series of measures to push the infrastructure sector.
The Finance Minister announced the launch of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Mission for rural development. The project, which aims at urbanisation of rural areas, will create civic infrastructure and associate services. This unique model will certainly help generating employment apart from creating skilled development in villages.
To ensure 24×7 uninterrupted power supplies in rural areas, Union Budget 2014 announced Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana and earmarked Rs 500 crore for the scheme. In addition, the Budget allocates Rs 14,389 crore for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY).
To create infrastructure in agriculture sector, the Union Budget has proposed to raise the corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) by an additional Rs 5,000 crore. In addition, an amount of Rs 100 crores has been set aside for the Agri-tech infrastructural funds.
To strengthen and modernize the boarder infrastructure, the Budget has earmarked Rs 2250 crore. For scientific warehousing infrastructure, the Budget has allocated Rs 5,000 crore.
In his Budget speech, the Finance Minister emphasized on strengthening and revival of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Such a move will not only revive the investors’ interest to develop better infrastructure, but also makes the SEZs effective instruments for employment generation, industrial production and export promotion. This will in turn contribute to the economic growth of the country.
In a bid to attract large-scale investments in infrastructural sector, the Union Budget has proposed to provide a conductive tax regime for the investors by setting up Infrastructural Investment Trusts (InvITs) and Real Estate Investments (REITs) in accordance with the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
With as many as 900 projects are in various stages of development, India has emerged as the largest PPP (Public Private Partnership) market. But the PPP has its grey areas. To streamline the PPP models, the Union Budget proposed an institution called 3P and earmarks Rs 500 crore.
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) are being used as an instruments to pull investment in several countries. The Union Budget has announced creation of Infrastructural Investment Trusts (InvITs), a modified REITS-type structure. This will have a similar tax pass through status for PPP and other infrastructure projects.
Modi government also announced ambitious plans for setting up 100 Smart Cities and Housing for All by 2022.
There is no doubt that the series of measures for infrastructural development, as presented in the Union Budget 2014, will raise adequate resources for the economic development of the country. This will certainly help reviving the ailing economy.
But budget is just one aspect of bigger picture of Narendra Modi’s mega plans. Like a true visionary he has taken a holistic approach to solve the infrastructure tangle. He knows that government alone can’t do anything alone and given the attitude and work culture of government employees, he can’t trust them 100% to materialize his dreams about this sector.
In all his foreign trips, may it be Japan, America, G20 Summit in Australia or BRICS summit in Brazil or his interactions with visiting foreign dignitaries at home turf, he has pitched for investment in India. And he has received encouraging and positive response too. Proposals with trillions of dollars are pouring in every sphere of infrastructure. But he knows that merely proposals are not sufficient, to execute them is also equally important. And he can’t execute them without drastically changing pathetic ground realities in India.
To begin with, he has taken all the steps to make government employees more accountable and responsible. During his visit to Japan he assured Japanese businessmen that if they come to India, they would get RED CARPET NOT RED TAPE. To facilitate business and create EASE OF DOING BUSINESS he has created country specific cells to grant single window clearances that too in a given time limit.
Being a shrewd strategist, Modi knows that India can’t march ahead to road of success unless she has good relations with neighbours. He invited Heads of all the SAARC countries to his swearing in ceremony and chose neighboring country Bhutan for his first visit abroad making it amply clear that he attaches maximum importance to his political ties and business relations with neighboring countries.
During recent SAARC summit in Nepal, despite Pakistan blocking connectivity proposals (framework agreements with member-countries to enhance rail and road connectivity and to set up a regional power grid), India inked ten important agreements with Nepal and Modi made it amply clear that despite Pakistan’s obstinate and unreasonable attitude, India will go ahead with her cooperation with other SAARC countries.
Besides cutting red tape, attracting FDI, creating a positive Indian image abroad, the Modi government has done a remarkable job of annulling archaic laws also which promoted license raj and created hindrances in day to day work.
Despite having deep faith in Indian culture and ethos, Modi realizes that infrastructure can’t develop in India, unless outlook and attitude of masses doesn’t change. For this he has launched various social campaigns also like SWACHCHATA ABHIYAN to educate and sensitize masses about the importance of hygiene, cleanliness and other social issues.
He understands that Indian growth story can’t sustain merely on the shoulders of few lakh rich individuals or FDI. To make it sustainable, it is important to promote manufacturing in private sector in India to increase purchasing power of poorest of the poor. So he has launched MAKE IN INDIA GLOBAL INITIATIVE to provide more employment to poor and thereby enabling them to buy more goods and services and keep the growth chakra (cycle) of India rolling.
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THE WORLD RESPONDS TO MODI’S CLARION CALL TO DEVELOP INFRASTRUCTURE IN INDIA
Recently, Dominic Barton, Global CEO, McKinsey, world’s largest white-shoe consulting firm heaped lavish praises on Prime Minister when he said “Modi has turned India into a magnet.” He further said “India is back on the priority list of the CEOs after Narendra Modi’s ascension to power. People had given up on India. They felt India is too complicated and it was difficult to get anything done. It had dropped in the last five years on people’s priority (list). I think it has gone right back up, people are interested, obviously people are going to want to see action but I think the feeling is they will, because this government seems serious.”
The statement by Dominic Barton reflects the changed perception and confidence of the world economic leaders about India. Since swearing in, Modi has relentlessly worked to put the house in order and set the ball rolling. Thanks to his long and successful innings as Gujarat Chief Minister, his economic agenda was ready even before the Lok Sabha election campaign. Glimpses of it could be seen in his campaign speeches also.
Inspired by American President Franklin Roosevelt’s Hundred Day plan in which Roosevelt used development of infrastructure projects to fend off economic slide during recession in 1930s, Modi also declared infrastructure as his first priority.
While launching MAKE IN INDIA, GLOBAL INITIATIVE in September this year Modi said, “Like Manufacturing Sector, Infrastructure is also very important. India’s infrastructure is not sufficient to meet our goals. Earlier by infrastructure we meant roads, ports, airports….and that is it. We have to upgrade to NEXT GENERATION INFRASTRUCTURE. We need highways and we need i-ways too. When I say i-ways, I mean information ways for DIGITAL INDIA. If we have ELECTRIC GRID then we need GAS GRID as well. We need WATER GRID too. We require OPTICAL FIBER NETWORK too. We dream of a country which offers plenty of opportunities to private players. How to upgrade ourselves from the present public-private partnership model… how to usher in maiden areas? We confined ourselves to development of ports only. The time demands that now we move towards PORT LED DEVELOPMENT. May it be ports, network of warehouses, network of cold storages, roads, rail, we need airport also along with port. Until we develop all these as a cluster, we cannot make our presence felt in the global market and that is why we emphasize on that. This is a big area where you can try your luck. What I mean to say is only this that Infrastructure is not a matter of mere facilities and conveniences. If we want to develop tourism – tourism is estimated to be the industry with maximum growth potential. Can India capture this? So we need a huge infrastructure for tourism too. There is a big scope for hospitality industry in India. There are so many avenues.”
Modi made several big announcements about developing infrastructure since swearing in but first clear picture appeared in the first Rail and General Budget of the Modi government. These budgets touched every aspect of infrastructure and announced measures to energies this sector.
For instance on infrastructural front, the Railway Budget 2014 proposed to set up a Diamond Quadrilateral rail network connecting major metros apart from announcing a bullet train. The Rail Budget has also proposed to attract private domestic investment and FDI in infrastructure.
Carrying forward Narendra Modi’s development mantra of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while presenting his maiden Budget announced a series of measures to push the infrastructure sector.
The Finance Minister announced the launch of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Mission for rural development. The project, which aims at urbanisation of rural areas, will create civic infrastructure and associate services. This unique model will certainly help generating employment apart from creating skilled development in villages.
To ensure 24×7 uninterrupted power supplies in rural areas, Union Budget 2014 announced Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana and earmarked Rs 500 crore for the scheme. In addition, the Budget allocates Rs 14,389 crore for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY).
To create infrastructure in agriculture sector, the Union Budget has proposed to raise the corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) by an additional Rs 5,000 crore. In addition, an amount of Rs 100 crores has been set aside for the Agri-tech infrastructural funds.
To strengthen and modernize the boarder infrastructure, the Budget has earmarked Rs 2250 crore. For scientific warehousing infrastructure, the Budget has allocated Rs 5,000 crore.
In his Budget speech, the Finance Minister emphasized on strengthening and revival of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Such a move will not only revive the investors’ interest to develop better infrastructure, but also makes the SEZs effective instruments for employment generation, industrial production and export promotion. This will in turn contribute to the economic growth of the country.
In a bid to attract large-scale investments in infrastructural sector, the Union Budget has proposed to provide a conductive tax regime for the investors by setting up Infrastructural Investment Trusts (InvITs) and Real Estate Investments (REITs) in accordance with the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
With as many as 900 projects are in various stages of development, India has emerged as the largest PPP (Public Private Partnership) market. But the PPP has its grey areas. To streamline the PPP models, the Union Budget proposed an institution called 3P and earmarks Rs 500 crore.
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) are being used as an instruments to pull investment in several countries. The Union Budget has announced creation of Infrastructural Investment Trusts (InvITs), a modified REITS-type structure. This will have a similar tax pass through status for PPP and other infrastructure projects.
Modi government also announced ambitious plans for setting up 100 Smart Cities and Housing for All by 2022.
There is no doubt that the series of measures for infrastructural development, as presented in the Union Budget 2014, will raise adequate resources for the economic development of the country. This will certainly help reviving the ailing economy.
But budget is just one aspect of bigger picture of Narendra Modi’s mega plans. Like a true visionary he has taken a holistic approach to solve the infrastructure tangle. He knows that government alone can’t do anything alone and given the attitude and work culture of government employees, he can’t trust them 100% to materialize his dreams about this sector.
In all his foreign trips, may it be Japan, America, G20 Summit in Australia or BRICS summit in Brazil or his interactions with visiting foreign dignitaries at home turf, he has pitched for investment in India. And he has received encouraging and positive response too. Proposals with trillions of dollars are pouring in every sphere of infrastructure. But he knows that merely proposals are not sufficient, to execute them is also equally important. And he can’t execute them without drastically changing pathetic ground realities in India.
To begin with, he has taken all the steps to make government employees more accountable and responsible. During his visit to Japan he assured Japanese businessmen that if they come to India, they would get RED CARPET NOT RED TAPE. To facilitate business and create EASE OF DOING BUSINESS he has created country specific cells to grant single window clearances that too in a given time limit.
Being a shrewd strategist, Modi knows that India can’t march ahead to road of success unless she has good relations with neighbours. He invited Heads of all the SAARC countries to his swearing in ceremony and chose neighboring country Bhutan for his first visit abroad making it amply clear that he attaches maximum importance to his political ties and business relations with neighboring countries.
During recent SAARC summit in Nepal, despite Pakistan blocking connectivity proposals (framework agreements with member-countries to enhance rail and road connectivity and to set up a regional power grid), India inked ten important agreements with Nepal and Modi made it amply clear that despite Pakistan’s obstinate and unreasonable attitude, India will go ahead with her cooperation with other SAARC countries.
Besides cutting red tape, attracting FDI, creating a positive Indian image abroad, the Modi government has done a remarkable job of annulling archaic laws also which promoted license raj and created hindrances in day to day work.
Despite having deep faith in Indian culture and ethos, Modi realizes that infrastructure can’t develop in India, unless outlook and attitude of masses doesn’t change. For this he has launched various social campaigns also like SWACHCHATA ABHIYAN to educate and sensitize masses about the importance of hygiene, cleanliness and other social issues.
He understands that Indian growth story can’t sustain merely on the shoulders of few lakh rich individuals or FDI. To make it sustainable, it is important to promote manufacturing in private sector in India to increase purchasing power of poorest of the poor. So he has launched MAKE IN INDIA GLOBAL INITIATIVE to provide more employment to poor and thereby enabling them to buy more goods and services and keep the growth chakra (cycle) of India rolling.
For more information about Unnati Fortune Group logon to: http://www.unnatifortune.com
Follow Mr. Anil Mithas on twitter: https://twitter.com/anilmithas
Follow Mr. Anil Mithas on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/anilmithasufg