Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it very clear that the short-term political agenda won’t interfere with India's infrastructure development, which is the key to making the economy grow at a rate of nearly 8 percent, Rajiv Kumar, the former vice chairman of Niti Aayog, said at the inaugural Moneycontrol Policy Next event in New Delhi.
The country needs to work hard for 8 percent growth and infrastructure is a part of this approach, Kumar, who is vice chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, said in his special address.
Infrastructure has the biggest impact on the economy, which is poised to remain the fastest-growing large economy in the world.
“I am confident that India will be the epicentre of global growth,” he said.
Stressing that India faces the challenge of development while becoming greener, Kumar added that the country is well-placed to ensure that this happens.
The country has been focusing on physical infrastructure like railways, highways, seaports, waterways, and energy as well as on social sectors like education and health.
The prime minister’s thrust is on developing infrastructure across the country as large-scale migration in India is not sustainable, Kumar said.
“India's growth model has to be to create jobs where the people are. For that you need infrastructure to reduce the time to bring the output from distant areas,” Kumar said.
Rural infrastructure will also unleash development in the hinterland, Kumar added.
As India aims to become a developed economy by 2047, the government has kept an unrelenting focus on boosting infrastructure. India’s spending on infrastructure has gone up manifold times over the last decade to hit a record Rs 10 trillion for the next financial year.
As part of the same journey, Moneycontrol Policy Next Series of exclusive events was launched on March 23 with the ‘The Rs 10 Trillion Infra Push’ which will be helmed by Nitin Gadkari, the minister of road transport and highways.
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