Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday released a report on infrastructure projects worth Rs 102 lakh crore. The report was prepared by the task force on infrastructure after 70 consultations with stakeholders, Nirmala Sitharaman said in a press conference. The report comes about five months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the government’s intent to invest Rs 100 lakh crore in infrastructure in his Independence Day speech. “This is the country’s first national infrastructure pipeline… In last six years, Rs 51 lakh crore was spent on infrastructure, which is 5-6 per cent of GDP,” said the Finance Minister.
The Rs 100-lakh-crore infrastructure project pipeline to revive the economy comes at a time when the country’s GDP or gross domestic product expanded at a more than six-year low rate of 4.5 per cent in the July-September period.
Many economists and financial institutions have lowered their growth projections for the year ending March 2020.
The economy needs to grow at around 8 per cent to create enough jobs for the millions of young people joining the labour force each year; yet many economists see the current slowdown continuing for another year or two.
The government has announced a slew of measures in the past months to spur investments to revive growth, including withdrawal of higher taxes on foreign investors, reduction in corporate taxes, a mega merger of state-run banks, a special window for the real estate sector and a massive disinvestment plan.
Source: NDTV Profit