An attractive investment opportunity

A KEY driver of high economic growth rate in India, and a major source of global confidence in India, is the scale and pace of expansion and upgrading of India's infrastructure, long seen as the single biggest bottleneck in India's progress.

India's infrastructure represents the largest investment opportunity in any single country in the world. It exists in an environment of political continuity, policy reforms, stable currency and low inflation rate.

A snapshot of its infrastructure sector reveals the pace of expansion over three years:

India has targeted to invest US$1.5 trillion in the medium term to expand and upgrade its infrastructure. Over the next three years alone, aggregate investments in infrastructure will be a staggering US$400 billion.

Roads and highways

Aviation

The Indian aviation sector is likely to see investments totalling US$15 billion during 2016-2020 of which US$10 billion is expected to come from the private sector.

Shipping and ports

National waterways

Railways

Logistics parks

Energy sector

Real estate and urban development

*100 Smart Cities projects and Urban renewal programme through AMRUT: US$16 billion investments have been approved so far.

*New cities, such as the Amravati capital city in Andhra Pradesh, being built in partnership with Singapore.

*Housing for all by 2022, which would entail construction of 50 million affordable houses; 10 million rural houses to built by 2019.

*Industrial parks and cities; logistics parks and special economic zones; the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and other economic corridors.

*100 per cent FDI in township and settlements development.

*Investment trusts and real estate investment trusts liberalised.

*Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act.

*Infrastructure status for affordable housing; tax benefits for investment in affordable housing; reduction in duration of holding for application of lower long-term capital gains tax.

*Introduction of GST will stimulate demand for real estate, especially in the logistics sector.

If India is the world's most attractive infrastructure investment opportunity, Singapore is among the best placed countries to exploit it. It has companies with capabilities to design and develop world-class infrastructure; and a financial market with the capacity to raise funds for it. Singapore's signature is clearly visible in many pockets of India. There is opportunity to do much more.