View: Getting ‘Public Private Partnership’ model right is not easy

The PPP (public private partnership) movement in Indian infrastructure started in 1996 when an expert group on the commercialisation of infra projects, chaired by Dr Rakesh Mohan, submitted a groundbreaking report advocating the involvement of private capital. Even at that time, the report stressed the need for different risks in a project to be “clearly demarcated and allocated to different stakeholders”. This was a prescient warning by the committee but, sadly, successive governments paid little heed to it.

Following this report, 1997-98 onwards saw a whole set of PPP activities coming together. These included the setting up of the Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Tariff Authority for Major Ports, electricity regulators, the National Highways Authority of India and the involved tutelage of the Planning Commission.