The Future Of Infrastructure In India

Infrastructure is a matter of national pride for countries across the world. Roadways, waterways, railways, airports, ports etc have all seen a massive shift in the sector and are moving towards creation of world class facilities across the country. The smart cities initiatives have proved to be movers and shakers in the sector across the country. Owing to India’s need and thirst for fast paced development, the infrastructure sector has seen a massive boom, given its crucial role in the development of the country. Urbanisation and increasing involvement of foreign investments in the field have supported the boom.

Growth of infrastructure is visible across the country in form of new highways, rural roads, ports, air ports, power plants, urban and rural infrastructure, water supply, sewage, drainage, irrigation and agriculture systems. Add to it the rapid growth of manufacturing sectors, increasing consumer demand funded by increasing income and spends across the middle class, development of rural infrastructure and the government’s efforts to rejuvenate the agriculture sector which are supplementing the growth of infrastructure in India.

The growth of manufacturing sectors across the industry has led to a massive demand for infrastructure development and improvements as the existing one falls inadequate of meeting the tremendously increasing infrastructure demand. Increased transportation requirement due to increased manufacturing has also led to spurred increase in demand and construction transportation infrastructure. The future of infrastructure will be highly directed by the following sectors.

Transport: Transport infrastructure including construction of roads, highways, railways, ports, air ports etc will be leading the bull run for the infrastructure industry. As the country’s population goes on increasing, in addition to the manufacturing sector, imports, exports, boom of a global economy and access to the world market have necessitated rapid growth of transport infrastructure. Improving government policies and foreign investment will support the growth of transport infrastructure in the decade to come. To aid the boost of infrastructure across the country, the construction equipment manufacturing sector is also set to boom in the decade to come.

Renewable energy: Global economies are increasingly moving towards renewable energy to meet the increasing electricity requirements. Investment and demand for renewable energy requires infrastructure support. India too is working towards shifting its electricity generation to renewable sources in the decade to come. Large investments in the sector, demand and necessity will ensure that adequate money is invested in creating the necessary infrastructure across the country for generation and distribution of electricity.

Telecom: India’s population of 1.2 billion people and increasing ensures a humongous market for the telecom industry across the length and breadth of the country. The telecom industry again requires massive investment in infrastructure and is bound to attract investment given that the industry product is increasingly become a basic necessity. There is adequate scope for an expanding market in the country itself.

Smart Cities: Its an initiative that creates urban areas that use different types of electronic data collection sensors to supply information which is used to manage assets and resources efficiently. This includes data collected from citizens, devices, and assets that is processed and analysed to monitor and manage traffic and transportation systems, power plants, water supply networks, waste management, law enforcement, information systems, schools, libraries, hospitals, and other community services.The smart city concept integrates information technology and various physical devices connected to the networkto optimise the efficiency of city operations and services and connect to citizens. The initiative is set to set new standards in the field of urban infrastructure.

Followed by these major developments are the relatively smaller sectors that will help define the future of infrastructure in India

Healthcare: The health care industry is growing at a pace never seen before. With multi speciality clinics and hospitals opening up across the country, the health care industry will claim massive investment with its fundamental demand for adequate infrastructure.

Retail: The Indian middle class is growing and so is its income and spending power. A huge chunk of this money is spent into the retail sector which demands infrastructure right from manufacturing, transport, sales and servicing. Global and local e-commerce players like Amazon, Flipkart, Walmart, IKEA, Paytm etc also have increasing demand for storage and logistic infrastructure.

IT: India has become a global hub for the IT service industry. With tech giants and new companies cropping up in India, urban infrastructure demand is going up. Many global tech giants too are looking to set up offices and infrastructure in India and thus the increasing demand. Additionally the buzzing Indian starts up culture has created an increased demand for urban work space.

Housing: India’s population is 1.2 billion people, a huge chunk of whom do not have houses that are sturdy enough. With people migrating to urban cities and expansion of smaller ones the demand for housing will be on the rise for the years to come. Also increasing spending power and foreign investment in housing infrastructure will keep the sector at the forefront of the infrastructural spends.

Agriculture: The government has actively started investment and initiatives to rejuvenate the agriculture sector in the country. Rejuvenation of the sector will require spends on supportive infrastructure like irrigation, eduction, transport, storage etc. Local policies while small, are simultaneously happening across the country making the sector a major investment pocket when it come stop creation of infrastructure.

Sanitation: A huge chunk of the Indian population still doesn’t have access to sanitation. As a part of the Swatch Bharat initiative, a lot of investment is dedicated to the construction of basic sanitation infrastructure in addition to larger set ups for waste collection, management and recycling.

Manufacturing: The Make in India initiative has created a massive demand for creation of well equipped industrial zones. To meet the increasing demand for manufacturing sites, an equivalent amount of spends will need to be dedicated to creating the necessary infrastructure across the country. with aid of foreign investment, the infrastructure for the sector is set to boom.

India being a developing country, is set to make the most of the opportunity for the growth of Indian infrastructure sector and its safe to say that the future of indian infrastructure will be bright with a growing trajectory.