Govt increases portfolio of infra projects, raises spending to Rs 111 trn

India’s infrastructure investment target for the next five years has got bigger, with a task force increasing the figure to Rs 111 trillion from its initial projection of Rs 102 trillion in December last year. The task force on National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) submitted its final report to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday. The increase is significant as it comes at a time when India is looking at a sub-2 per cent economic growth rate owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The private sector’s share in this spending, however, would be a tad lower at 21 per cent from the earlier estimate while there is a one-percentage-point increase in the share of state governments at 40 per cent, with the remaining 39 per cent coming from the Centre.