India will need $1.5 trillion of investment in infrastructure over the next 10 years. Of this nearly $10 billion is required in sewage treatment plants. Similarly, about $8 billion is required to be invested in ensuring regular drinking water supply.

In the mid-2000s, Walmart was in for a shock when it was informed that its maximum carbon emissions were not from its supply trucks, but refrigerators placed inside stores. Storage of ice cream and other frozen foods in open shelves was resulting in higher energy consumption as they were required to be cooled at higher temperatures.

India is at a very interesting and crucial moment right now. The Indian government has stimulated a lot of activity involving infrastructure development such as the Smart Cities programme and the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.

Though Public-Private Partnership contracts are the mainstay of infra projects, evidence of PPP performance in terms of value-for-money and efficiency is mixed and often unavailable, says Sangeeta Lakhi, Senior Partner, Rajani Associates.

The Indian infrastructure story is at an interesting crossroad. On the one hand, being the world´s fastest growing major economy, India needs to create fresh capacity in its infrastructure to maintain the growth momentum.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) holds the potential to improve India´s energy efficiency by enabling more efficient long-haul transportation across India. He was speaking after inaugurating the Petrotech 2016 conference on December 5, 2016, in New Delhi where he added, ´At the moment, the piped natural gas network in India is 15,000 km in length.

India has 275 GW of installed electricity generating capacity which is significantly higher than 140 GW of peak demand of electricity across the country. The energy generated through coal alone is higher than its peak demand. Despite the installed capacity exceeding power demand, some parts of the country face acute power shortages and more than 300 million people in India are still without access to power.

India can follow to help the country reach its true sporting potential. India has failed to claim enough medals every four years at the Olympic Games since it first participated in 1900. Despite the multi-faceted and increasing number of athletes´ contingent sent to the apex platform of sports, the results have not been commensurate in terms of results.

When in August this year, India sent its largest ever delegation to the Summer Olympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, most expected the country to further improve on its performance over the London edition of the games which had been held four years earlier.