Industry players and analysts feel that the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI)must increase the frequency of its meeting in order to resolve issues in pending infrastructure project.
The panel has met only five times in the last six months of its existence and its diktats have pertained largely to public sector investments, though a few processes have been tightened for expediting public private partnerships (PPPs) in ports (by streamlining security clearances of bidders) and highways, reports indicate.
It may be recalled that the government set up CCI in order to expedite megaprojects (worth over Rs 1,000 crore) which are stuck because of various reasons.
The committee should meet more often than once a month and have a process to review projects that it had cleared earlier and check if they have gotten off the ground, industry players feel. The CCI has cleared a few projects in oil and gas and other sectors and issued an ultimatum to a couple of ministries like defence (to ease project hurdles), but how much of this has translated into actual investments needs to be assessed.
A report by Barclays remarked that there is no clear uptick in activity related to the projects whichwere cleared by the CCI. The government has already taken some steps such as the diesel price hike, which clearly indicates it has the will and intent to act. However, industry players want to see some major steps on the infrastructure front that will help kick-start the growth momentum, said Uday Kotak, Founder and Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.