FinMin to monitor 10-15 large infra projects

Responding to India Inc's concerns about the impact of poor infrastructure on growth, the Finance Ministry today decided to monitor progress of 10-15 large projects in the public sector.

"The projects are yet to be identified, but it is important that infrastructure develops at a faster pace and we will be closely monitoring 10-15 large projects," a senior official in the ministry said.

The Finance Ministry's decision to monitor progress of large projects, which may include Dedicated Freight Corridor, was taken ahead of a meeting of Secretaries of 11 important ministries like civil aviation, coal and mines, commerce and industry, communciation and IT, agriculture and, environment and forest.

Captains of industry, in their interaction with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on August 1, had demanded close monitoring of large infrastructure sector projects being undertaken by the public sector.

Today's meeting, which was chaired by Economic Affairs Secretary R Gopalan, also decided to hold road shows abroad to portray India as an attractive investment destination.

"When interest rates are near zero in [developed] countries, we should try our best to attract funds," the official added.

Ministry officials also deliberated on the steps required to make the corporate bond market more vibrant.

As various steps taken by the government failed to increase liquidity in the sector, strengthening of the corporate bond market could go a long way in financing infrastructure development in the country, the official said.

Tomorrow's inter-ministerial meeting would review the progress of different ministries on the suggestions made by corporate India.

"It is a pre-cursor to the meeting which would be taken by the Finance Minister in the second week of October where he would take stock of the progress," the official said.

Besides other things, Indian industry had given suggestions to Mukherjee on the steps needed to improve infrastructure and corporate bond market. Poor infrastructure is seen as a major bottleneck to sustain high level of economic growth.