The Rs 20 trillion economic revival package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is among the most substantial in the world. Of the five pillars identified by Modi to support the edifice of a New India, infrastructure occupies the second place.

The urban local bodies have traditionally been slow in project implementation. The fundamental reason is that they do not have a predictable revenue stream for financial planning.

India is blessed with a very long coastline and has a port infrastructure that is envied by some of the countries in the Asian region.

Just as 2019 drew to a close, the Central Government unveiled the Rs 102-trillion National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) to boost annual investment in the sector.

While the waterfront of a port is difficult to alter, mechanisation of terminals can be done easily, and is central to turnaround strategies, says Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, Practise Leader & Director, Transport & Logistics, CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory.

Infrastructure investments by Indian states need to rise to nearly Rs 110 trillion over the next decade (fiscal 2021-2030), or 3.5 times an estimated Rs 32 trillion in the current decade, if the country is to achieve its mammoth infrastructure buildout targets, analytics firm CRISIL projected on Tuesday.

The progress on projects such as Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs), high-speed rail and redevelopment of railway stations is likely to mark a paradigm shift in the country's railways sector.

While improving efficiency is critical for turning around the situation at power distribution companies (discoms), tariff reforms, especially, are the need of the hour.

India has overtaken Japan to become the world's second largest steel producer.