Statsguru: India's infra investment challenge

India’s infrastructure deficit requires massive financing. The country needs to spend Rs 50 lakh crore by 2022 to provide a strong foundation for rapid growth, estimates CRISIL. Three sectors — power, transport and urban — are likely to account for roughly three-fourths of this overall spend, as shown in Chart 1. 

But these sectors vary in terms of their attractiveness. As Chart 2 shows, power transmission, renewables, and highways rank higher on CRISIL’s investment index, while thermal generation, railways, and urban infrastructure rank lower. 

A sector-wise analysis shows that transmission capacity in the country has grown at a healthy pace of 9.1