New Delhi: 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.
To achieve the GDP of $5 trillion by 2024-25, India needs to spend about $1.4 trillion (Rs. 100 lakh crore) over these years on infrastructure. In the past decade (FY 2008-17), India invested about $1.1 trillion on infrastructure. The challenge is to step-up annual infrastructure investment so that lack of infrastructure does not become a binding constraint on the growth of the Indian economy.
Hon’ble Prime Minister in his Independence Day speech highlighted that Rs.100 lakh crore would be invested on infrastructure over the next five years. Infrastructure projects will include social and economic infrastructure projects. To implement an infrastructure program of this scale, it is important that projects are adequately prepared and launched. In pursuance of this, an annual infrastructure pipeline would be developed. To achieve this task, a Task Force under the chairmanship of Secretary (DEA) has been constituted by Union Finance Minister to draw up a National Infrastructure Pipeline for each of the years from FY 2019-20 to FY 2024-25 as below:
| 1. | Secretary, DEA | Chair |
| 2. | CEO, NITI Aayog or his nominee | Member |
| 3. | Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance or his nominee | Member |
| 4. | Secretary of the Administrative Ministry (as per address list below) | Member |
| 5. | Additional Secretary (Investment), Department of Economic Affairs | Member |
| 6. | Joint Secretary, Infrastructure Policy & Finance Division, DEA | Member-Secretary |
The Terms of Reference of the Task Force are as follows:
- To identify technically feasible and financially/ economically viable infrastructure projects that can be initiated in FY 2019-20.
- To list the projects that can be included in the pipeline for each of the remaining 5 years between FY 2021-25.
- To estimate annual infrastructure investment/capital costs.
- To guide the Ministries in identifying appropriate sources of financing.
- To suggest measures to monitor the projects so that cost and time overrun is minimized.
The National Infrastructure Pipeline would include greenfield and brownfield projects costing above Rs 100 crore each. Other qualifications for inclusion in the pipeline for the current year will include availability of a DPR, feasibility of implementation, inclusion in the financing plan and readiness/ availability of administrative sanction. Each Ministry/ Department would be responsible for monitoring of projects so as to ensure their timely and within-cost implementation. The Task Force will also enable robust marketing of the pipeline of projects requiring private investment through the India Investment Grid (IIG), National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), etc.
The Task Force will submit its Report on the pipeline for FY 2019-20 by 31st October, 2019 and on the indicative pipeline for FY 2021-25 by 31st December 2019.
