The last eight years have seen tremendous progress in the areas of infrastructural development. The government has undertaken several structural reforms to make the entire infrastructure pipeline visible and viable. Building on the mixed success derived from private participation in infrastructure programmes supported through PPP models like BoT, ToT, etc., the government launched the National Infrastructure Pipeline to channelise dedicated credit support for world class infrastructure across the country.
A major problem that plagued the infrastructure sector, and thus impeded the pace of development, was the lack of integrated planning and coordinated implementation of projects. This often led to delays, ineffective utilisation of resources and rising project cost. Therefore, to bring in a holistic and integrated approach to infrastructure planning and development, the government instituted two strong pillars: PM GatiShakti and National Logistics Policy.
The aim is to upgrade the existing infrastructure by crowding-in domestic and foreign private-sector investment which ultimately leads to logistical efficiency, addresses critical gaps for seamless completion of infrastructure projects, minimises disruptions, and ensures timely completion of works.
While roads, railways, and waterways have seen unprecedented expansion, the ports and airports have been substantially upgraded. Simultaneously, the nation has moved from unimodal to multi-modal transportation.
Facilitating a swift, efficient, economical and environment-friendly logistics movement across the country, this approach provides the private sector the opportunity to invest and reinvest, which the government has already facilitated by envisaging the transfer of assets (through monetisation) to their counterpart.
With the vision of $1 trillion digital economy by 2025, the government is marching towards providing new e-governance-based services and modifying the existing ones on a need basis. Here, the bouquet of digital public infrastructure products like e-RUPI, e-way bill, TReDS for MSMEs, etc., have ensured real value for money to consumers and has also reduced the compliance burden for producers.
Cashless economy
The nation at large benefited from the transformed payment infrastructure via UPI and Aadhaar-enabled payment system, firmly placing India on the track towards a cashless economy. The success story of UPI has travelled internationally, as many jurisdictions have applauded and adopted India’s sui-generis payment infrastructure.
The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is a revolutionary step forward towards democratising and decentralising digital commerce through a set of standards. The ONDC has the potential to transform how businesses and consumers presently interact, by giving greater thrust to penetration of e-retail commerce in India.
Also, empowering the end-users with control over their data is an essential ongoing task that is guided by the Account Aggregator framework. In addition to this, the announcement in the Budget about the National Data Governance Policy towards enabling access to anonymised data is another positive footstep in this direction. Under the vision of Digital India, the government has rolled out futuristic infrastructure in the form of smart cities based on the interlocking of physical and digital aspects. This synergy, when realised, will transform India into a middle-income economy, thereby creating assets that cater to the needs of the future.
The world has observed how India’s economy, digital economy and the overall ecosystem have continued to grow and prosper, even in the face of global adversity.
Sarkar is Economic Adviser, and Satya is Joint Director, Department of Economic Affairs