At present, leading infrastructure firms such as GMR Infrastructure, Reliance Infrastructure and Tata Realty and Infrastructure prefer to bid for road projects In a bid to quickly revert to 9% GDP growth, Union Budget 2010-11 has laid major emphasis on the infrastructure sector. “Of total plan allocation, around 46% will be invested for infrastructure development in the country,” declared finance minister Pranab Mukherjee while presenting the Budget.
Industry experts and analysts are of the opinion that this announcement sends a strong signal for infrastructure creation and will help domestic infrastructure companies to secure big orders over the coming years, which in turn will spur economic growth.
Welcoming the focus on infrastructure, reputed private companies such as Larsen & Toubro and Tata Realty and Infrastructure have urged the government to take a stringent step regarding procedural matters and implementation of projects. According to Tata Realty and Infrastructure, the major concern lies with projects in the urban infrastructure segment.
 Road sector witnessing major investment
It seems that Kamal Nath’s, minister for road transport and highways, ambitious target to build 20 km of roads per day has enthused private players to such an extent that increasing number of leading infrastructure firms are at present up for bidding road projects, feel industry leaders. Consider the following facts and figures:
“India is slowly getting back on its growth trajectory and increased allocations in key sectors such as infrastructure will undoubtedly trigger GDP growth over the coming years,” says K Gnyandeep, managing director of Abir Infrastructure, a Gurgaon-based mid-sized infrastructure firm.
The power sector is also witnessing major investments. GMR Energy intends to expand its power generation capacity from the existing 800 megawatt (Mw) to 6,700 Mw in next 5 years. Furthermore, the finance minister has doubled allocation for the power sector in Budget 2010-11.
Jeeta Bandopadhyay |
