2012-17 infra investment estimate revised to Rs 38 lakh cr

The projections for investment in the country's infrastructure in the last five years has been revised upwards by the government to Rs 38,22,822 crore, Parliament was informed on Friday.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour that the NITI Aayog had revised the projection for investment in infrastructure in 2012-17 to Rs 38,22,822 crore, which is 1.6 times the investment of Rs 23,77,746 crore achieved during 2007-12 at current prices.

"The total allocation for infrastructure sector in Budget 2017-18 stands at Rs 3,96,135 crore. The government recently announced a major infrastructure push with launch of Bharatmala programme," he said.

Jaitley noted that there was no central or single registry of infrastructure projects along with their funding in the country.

Infrastructure projects in India are implemented in both public-private partnership (PPP) and private modes, while the public sector projects were implemented by the Centre, state governments as well as local bodies.

The Finance Minister also said the government had taken a number of steps to mobilise funds from various sources for development of infrastructure, including launching of innovative mechanisms like infrastructure debt funds, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), issuing a framework for municipal bonds and allowing complete pass-through of income tax to securitisation trusts.

--IANS

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