THE DYNAMIC NETWORKING!

The Association of Infrastructure Industry (India) recently concluded ‘India Infrastructure Summit’ 2019, an annual event that brings all stakeholders of the Indian infrastructure domain under one roof. Given that, please give us some insights from the event & what was the theme for this year’s summit?

India Infrastructure Summit has always thrived to provide “Executable Intelligence” for the growth of Infrastructure in India and not just a regular gathering. All the discussions that took place at the India Infrastructure Summit will be summarized in a “White Paper” that will be submitted to the Honorable Prime Minister of India.

Every year we try to dwell upon topics at India Infrastructure Summit that are seldom discussed at other forums. So this year we covered Inland Waterways, Indian Railway Station Development, Rural Infrastructure, Ports and also how can the industry support a common man from cement se ghar tak.

This year we also discussed another very interesting topic of Usership vs Ownership wherein we discussed how do we can the government incentivize resource sharing like student housing, shared community living like senior citizen living, co living space etc.

We also released a sectoral report co written by ANAROCK and Association of Infrastructure Industry (India) – Infrastructure & Real Estate A Fulcrum for Change & Economic Growth……. How is India Shaping Up?

How do you see the future of Infrastructure development in India? What will be the top investment avenues?

Akhand Bharat, a dream that we all wish to see fulfilled has its roots lay deep in the infrastructure development. A strong infrastructure serves as a backbone for nation building. And it is not just the roads and railways but it also includes a healthy development of overall infrastructure with focus on ease of living for all the citizens of our country. To quote American critic, Paul Goldberger, Infrastructure creates the form of a city and enables life to go on in a city, in a certain way. To support the change being witnessed in the economic activities in the country coupled with the increasing consumerism in India, upgrading infrastructure is imperative. We should think on how multi-modal infrastructure development – that includes development of not just roads and railways, but also unprecedented development of ports, airports and real estate will play a pivotal role in the fueling of allied industries from where the raw materials and other services are sourced. Additionally, this model of infrastructure development is poised to open up endless avenues for trade and transportation of passengers and goods across the length and breadth of our country. It is interesting to note that the contribution of infrastructure and real estate to the overall economy has grown from 31.4% in 2011-12 to 32.1% in 2016-17, with real estate services being a key contributor. Indian Infrastructure attracted massive FDI worth INR 207 billion in last 5 years backed by a growing economy and strong fundamentals. A direct beneficiary of infrastructure development is a rise in job creation. With various government initiatives like the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), we have witnessed a rapid growth in all-weather road connectivity to 85% of the 178,184 eligible rural habitations. By 2019, all villages are expected to be connected through a road network which eventually would lead to a rise in employment opportunities as well. Moving over to check on the dynamics of rail development, in FY18, railways handled 8.3 billion passengers and with increasing demand, the passenger traffic is expected to touch 15.2 billion by FY20. We may soon see India moving ahead of its 4th largest rail network position keeping in mind the constant efforts of the Government of India. Upgrading the rail networks has a direct influence on freight transportation as well. Dedicated freight corridors lead to industrial development. To promote intracity commute, consistent efforts are being undertaken which includes a rapid expansion of metro rail. As of date, we have metro rail being developed in 6 cities and 18 other tier-II cities are under the planning stage. Similarly, monorail too is expected to begin operation in 10 cities besides being fully operational in Mumbai. All of these developments together ease connectivity thus eventually leading to better employment and education opportunities. All infrastructure development should have a single aim – to uplift the quality of life of India’s common man besides taking India ahead to be at par with any other developed nation in the world.

I think Railways, Airports, Inland Ports and mixed Usership Real Estate would be interesting avenues for investments.

What can be the significant steps to put infra in the fast lane?

Lets understand that infrastructure development is not an overnight process. Any infrastructure development takes time and since all the processes are government regulated and controlled it takes time to build these. Also the finance is a major factor for any infrastructure development because the amount of finance involved is huge and has to be meticulously deployed.

Infrastructure development should be done keeping the urban planner, architects and other technical experts at the core of planning thereby coming up with a project that can sustain the population growth and pressure for atleast 50 – 60 years. Classic examples are how our railway stations were build keeping in mind the population in the coming 100 years .

To fast track the infrastructure development we need strong financial planning by the private partners, real time auditing of projects and finances. Government should put effective incentives for infrastructure players. Fast tracking decision making on behalf of government is very essential. Also a better coordination between state and central government without political biases should help.

Also my friends in private sectors who are vying for infrastructure projects should be very focused in their financial planning before they bid for projects because I have seen that just out of creating a order book value, companies have taken a project but are unable to complete for the want of finance thereby delaying the project.

What are the opportunities discussed in ‘India Infrastructure Summit’ 2019, in the context of the future of real-estate sector in India?

The Indian real estate market’s buying decisions are highly affected by infrastructure developments happening around them. As buyers are looking to ease out their lives especially in metro and tier-I cities, infrastructure development plays a vital role in their investment decisions.

We discussed how government can support the real estate industry by developing greenfield cities, improving better urban connectivity and also how the multi modal convergence of rural and urban India.