Experts discuss road ahead for Indian infrastructure

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India survived the financial turmoil quite well. The Indian economy seems to be back on track. Ofcourse, we have seen several initiatives on the part of the government by way of stimulus measures, which seems to have spurt the engines of growth. But a lot more needs to be done in terms of physical and the social and economic infrastructure.  

William D Green, Chairman & CEO- Accenture; Kalpana Morparia, CEO-India - JP Morgan Asia Pacific; AK Purwaha, CMD- Engineers India ; Harsh Manglik, Chairman and Geography MD India-Accenture India and Ajit Gulabchand, CMD of Hindustan Construction Company , discuss India's journey from the growth rate of about 6.5% to the double digit growth rate that the Indian government is hoping to achieve and what role infrastructure will play in it.

Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with William D Green, Kalpana Morparia, AK Purwaha, Harsh Manglik and Ajit Gulabchand on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: In terms of where India currently stand and we are one of the best performing economies in the world - 6.5%, the hope is 7% in 2010. The hope again is that the stimulus measures will be withdrawn because the recovery is stable and sustainable one. What to your mind needs to be done at this point in time?

Green: If you look at the country, round one has been played out and the world admires not only what India has done but what it is capable of doing. I think for the next part of the journey it is about durability, it is about predictability and it is about stability. If you stand back from that, it has to do with physical infrastructure, the economic and financial infrastructure and then ultimately the social infrastructure. To get all those things aligned and moving forward what we really need to do is to get a platform for that growth to prosper.

Q: In terms of infrastructure because that is one of the key constraints that are perhaps holding India back at this point in time. There is several figures whether we need USD 450 billion, USD 500 billion and so forth and the government puts out every five years in its planning commission targets. But in terms of infrastructure, what continues to hold us back outside of just getting the investments in?

Green: In many ways, it is hard to argue with the progress. I think we have to look at the glass as half full as appose to half empty. So it just becomes a question of the potential going forward. I think that has to do with sort of government leadership, it has to do with institutional leadership and it has to do with also things we need to come together on the education front, to make sure that we have the talent, which is necessary. But if you stand back from it all, I feel very good about the progress today. I think the world believes that when India has the will and resolve to tackle the infrastructure challenge across those three dimensions, it is going to do that in a remarkably short amount of time.