Vision 2047: Infra to be biggest driver for growth push
₹10 trillion capital spending in 2023-24 Union budget. And this spending is expected to continue for a few more years till the investment cycle is established where private and public spends complement to strengthen infrastructure. India will spend ₹143 trillion on infrastructure between fiscals 2024 and 2030, more than twice the ₹67 trillion spent in the past seven financial years from 2017, according to Infrastructure Year Book 2023 released by ratings agency Crisil.
Most of this investment is likely in sectors such as roads and power, while investment in nascent ones such as EVs, solar, wind, and hydrogen will pick up pace. In 2023, infrastructure growth sped up after two years of relatively slower progress, particularly in the highways sector. The country has set the highest ever target of building 13,800 km of highways in FY24.
India boasts of the world’s second-largest road network, with over 6.37 million km. In recent years, there has been a substantial rise in the pace of construction of national highways, to an average of 29 km per day in 2021-22 from 12 km per day in 2014-15. The total length of highways has expanded to 145,155 km today from 97,830 km in 2014.
Moreover, in the last nine years, more than 350,000 km of rural roads have been laid under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, giving all-weather road connectivity to villages. The government’s budget support for road infrastructure has rapidly increased, reaching approximately ₹2.58 trillion in 2023-24. “Ministry has projected their demand for capex of more than ₹3 trillion for the year 2024-25 against Budgetary capital outlay of ₹2.58 trillion in 23-24," the road transport and highways ministry said in response to a query from Mint.
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