India plans to spend $1.5tn on infrastructure to spur growth

Bloomberg

India outlined the contours of a $1.5 trillion plan to build infrastructure over the next five years to shore up economic growth.
The programme will include existing projects in the energy, road and railway sectors in the pipeline, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters. Private companies will account for 22%-25% of the investments, with the federal government and states contributing the rest, Sitharaman said.
The push to increase spending on infrastructure was unveiled by prime minister Narendra Modi in August and a panel was subsequently formed to identify the projects. Building new roads, rail links and other social and economic infrastructure is key for attracting investments and making India a $5 trillion economy.
Several governments have tried to implement public-private partnerships for infrastructure in India, but have fallen short.
The proposal by the Modi administration exceeds what has been spent over the past decade — between 2008-17, India invested about $1.1 trillion on infrastructure, official data show.
Gross domestic product (GDP) expansion in Asia’s third-largest economy slowed to a more than six-year low of 4.5% in the quarter ended September, prompting the Reserve Bank of India to lower its full-year growth forecast to 5%.
The panel identified 2.5 trillion rupees of ports and airport projects, 3.2 trillion rupees of digital infrastructure projects.
Besides, total 16 trillion rupees of irrigation, rural, farm and food processing projects have been identified. Details of the full pipeline of investments wasn’t provided.

India plans $35b power reforms
Bloomberg

India is planning another wave of reforms aimed at turning around its struggling power retailers.
The initiative is still under consideration, a power ministry spokeswoman said , declining to provide details. The reforms could cost as much as 2.5 trillion rupees ($35 billion) over five years, according to people with knowledge of the issue.
The measures would focus on infrastructure and technology upgrades of the ailing utilities to make them more efficient and reduce financial losses, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. The efforts could include central government grants of as much as 1 trillion rupees to states that meet targets set by New Delhi, they said.
The plan could include the installation of about 250 million prepaid smart meters, which are expected to boost revenue collection.