NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE PIPELINE

Context: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has unveiled a  ₹102 lakh crore national infrastructure pipeline, in accordance with the Narendra Modi government’s vision to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25.

Background:

The finance ministry had set up a task force headed by Economic Affairs Secretary to prepare a road map for the “national infrastructure pipeline” from 2019-20 to 2024-25 under the  ₹100 lakh crore infra plan.

Sector- specific:

1. Irrigation and rural infrastructure projects would account for  ₹7.7 lakh crore each. ₹3.07 lakh crore would be spent on industrial infrastructure. Agriculture and social infrastructure would account for the rest.
2. Road projects will account for ₹19.63 lakh crore while another  ₹13.68 lakh crore would be for railway projects.
3. Port projects would see spending of  ₹1 lakh crore and airports another  ₹1.43 lakh crore.  ₹16.29 lakh crore would be spent on urban infrastructure and  ₹3.2 lakh crore in telecom projects.
4. According to the sector-wise break-up of projects made available by the Finance Ministry,  ₹24.54 lakh crore investment will flow in the energy sector, and of that ₹11.7 lakh crore would be in just the power sector.
5. ₹42 lakh crore NIP projects which are in the implementation stage now include expressways, national gas grid and PMAY-G.

About the National Infrastructure Pipeline and it’s significance:

It is estimated that India would need to spend $4.5 trillion on infrastructure by 2030 to sustain its growth rate. The endeavour of the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), is to make this happen in an efficient manner.

Funding: The central government and state governments would have an equal share of 39% each in the NIP. The private sector, on the other hand, would have 22% share which the government expects to increase to 30% by 2025.

• National Infrastructure Pipeline will ensure that infrastructure projects are adequately prepared and launched.
• Each Ministry/ Department would be responsible for the monitoring of projects so as to ensure their timely and within-cost implementation.
• It will help in stepping-up annual infrastructure investment to achieve the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $5 trillion by 2024-25.

Need for infrastructure funding:

• Availability of quality infrastructure is a pre-requisite to achieve broad-based and inclusive growth on a sustainable basis.
• Investment in infrastructure is also necessary for sustaining the high growth rate of India.