Claiming that the Indian government had massive infrastructure projects underway, finance minister P Chidambaram said on Friday that there is a huge opportunity for foreign investment in India.
Chidambaram said the total investment requirements for power, roads, ports and civil aviation during the 12th Plan period is projected at $1 trillion, nearly half of which is expected to come from the private sector. ?This provides an ample opportunity for foreign investments to reap benefits from the high returns from India,? said the FM, who is in Washington to attend the annual plenary meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Chidambaram cited the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor as an example, which entails over $90 billion in investment. He said the government is promoting public-private partnerships as an effective tool for bringing private-sector efficiencies for delivery of quality public services.
?India, in recent years, has emerged as one of the leading PPP markets in the world, because of several policy and institutional initiatives taken by the government. We have over 1,000 PPP projects in the infrastructure sector with a total project cost of about $97 billion,” he said.
?The viability gap funding scheme has been further strengthened by adding many new sectors like modern storage, education, health, irrigation, etc. Thirteen new sub-sectors have been included in the list of sectors eligible for VGF support under the scheme,” the FM added.
