Shifting Gears: Indian Road Sector on Make-over Drive
Stung by the lackluster performance of the Indian road sector in the last fiscal, which led to the dwindling down of GDP growth to the lowest in a decade, the Central government has initiated multi-prong measures to fast-track the project delivery mechanism. In fact, policy makers have realized that road connectivity is not just the lifeline of the economy but also helps country to achieve higher GDP growth as was the case in the past one decade when India recorded an average growth rate of 8 percent during which country's GDP growth rode high on the back of the Indian road sector. In view of this, in its quest to achieve quicker results, the government streamlined the coordination of various agencies, implemented curb on number of clearances, initiated easier project awarding norms including premium rescheduling and lax exit norms. In its entirety, it is only due to the heightened pace of project clearance and fast tracked delivery mechanism that in the past couple of months projects worth about Rs.81,257cr have either been cleared or contracted indicating that the Indian road sector has started showing signs of upward momentum and is gradually trudging back to its pristine glory. Jeet Singh looks at the inside scenario in the Indian road sector.
