Attention Economy


Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Road Building/Infrastructure Modernization Drives Indian Economy

Modi government’s push to dramatically speed up road construction is giving rural areas a big boost:
“India—long held back by its potholed roadways, dilapidated bridges and shaky power grid—is on a building spree. The government spent $11 billion laying 3,700 miles of highways in the latest financial year, 36% more than the year before. Its target for this year: 9,300 miles. It also aims to commission highway projects totaling 15,500 miles before next April, and to spend $33 billion, or 11% of the budget, on infrastructure, mostly roads and railways.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is betting a burst of public expenditure can jolt more Indian companies into spending, too. Corporations’ investments in buildings, equipment and plants have tumbled for years even though overall economic expansion, fueled by consumer activity, has quickened to a world-beating 7.6%. The infrastructure push is also accelerating a quiet transformation in the country’s vast rural interior. As remote villages have become better-connected to the wider world, fewer Indians are working the land. More are starting shops, household industries, small-time service businesses—sources of livelihood that don’t whipsaw with the monsoon rains.”