Looking Ahead

The twelfth anniversary celebrations at Infrastructure Today coincide with a time of great optimism in the Indian economy, and in the infrastructure domain, in particular. The general mood in the country is a ringing endorsement for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government´s probusiness agenda.

As the opposition parties bay for blood, Prime Minister Modi has thrown down the gauntlet, in a sense, with the launch of a number of key missions that will provide an additional framework to judge him by. As if the task wasn´t already difficult enough.

At this time, the role of a magazine such as ours assumes greater relevance as infrastructure, languishing for decades, kicks suddenly into high gear. Developed countries, international consultants, investors and blue-chip companies are increasingly laying the rule of thumb over India and the country needs to quickly match up to world-class standards. The need of the hour is actionable insight.

India does not have time to waste. The missions launched by the Government are interlinked and interdependent ¨the manufacturing revolution called ¨Make in India¨ cannot happen without a complete makeover of our infrastructure.

Our special feature on Indo-French collaboration is an example of how the PM is shaking things up on the business front with decisive action, whether bringing a long-stalled nuclear deal to fruition or signing agreements to spread Ayurveda in the west.

Finally, this special edition is the result of meticulous planning and a lot of hard work. Bringing together the experts, veterans and the best of the best, the percepts and viewpoints presented in the pages ahead are a treasure trove of information and analysis. I hope that the ´IT perspective´, provided by our assistant editor Rouhan Sharma and sub-editor Ratna Nair, who have largely put together this issue, make for a good value addition to our readers´ thoughts on the state of Indian infrastructure.

We wish you all the best for the festive season before us and as we head into the year of Modi 2.0. From the entire team at Infrastructure Today, we sincerely hope you enjoy reading this special edition as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you.