Vijay Kumar Gaba

However, the physical process of motherhood is usually not the same for all women. For some it is a smooth transition from conception to delivery. For some it is a troublesome period of pregnancy followed by a normal healthy delivery. These women could suffer morning sickness, high blood pressure, anemia, swelling in feet and face, elevated blood sugar level, etc. Though these conditions normalize post-delivery and usually have no impact on the child’s health. Few women need to use medical intervention to get impregnated. There are some cases where a woman would get impregnated, but is unable to retain the fetus and suffers miscarriage. There are also some cases where the pregnancy is smooth but the delivery is troublesome.

Very similar has been the case with different global economies in the past few decades. For some economies the growth and development has been rather smooth in the post WWII era. These economies, now mostly developed, have conceived various projects of great economic importance and delivered them smoothly as planned; whereas many other economies have faced a variety of problems.

In the post-independence era, pregnancy has mostly been a difficult period for the Indian economy. Most projects face delays, cost overruns, legal challenges, ecological challenges, corruption charges, resistance from opposition parties, in many cases resistance from civil society. Nevertheless, the delivery is smooth and children are mostly healthy.

In the past two decades, for example, we have seen strong challenges to implementation of VAT, GST, FDI in retail, civil nuclear deal, Aadhar, Tehri Dam, Sardar Sarovar Dam, and numerous such other key projects of significant socio-economic importance. But eventually, these projects have been executed and are contributing immensely to the overall

As per a recent report of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, out of 1438 significant infrastructure projects (costing Rs150cr or more) 343 (24%) are facing cost overrun to the tune of more than Rs 4.5 Trillion, and 835 (58%) are facing delays. 130 projects are reported to be facing delays beyond 60months, while 411 projects are delayed between 25-60 months. (see here)

Some proposals like Land Laws, Farm reform legislations etc. had to be aborted; while some projects that could prove to be detrimental to the ecology have progressed, but such instances are few and not beyond correction.

The good news however is that in the next 23 months (end of 2024) we may witness delivery of many healthy projects that shall further accelerate the economic growth and development process of India. These projects include much awaited dedicated Freight Corridors, Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, Ganga Expressway, Navi Mumbai and NOIDA international airports, Mumbai metro etc.,

These projects when delivered for commercial use shall add significant impetus to the logistic efficiencies. The turnaround time at major ports like Mundra and JNPT shall reduce meaningfully. The congestion at major airports of Delhi and Mumbai shall also ease materially. The connectivity of major export hubs like NOIDA, Moradabad, Kanpur etc. will improve materially. Industrialization of states like UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Rajasthan etc. will accelerate; and commercial farming will also get impetus. Services like hospitality, trade and finance would also gain as the flow of international tourists and business travelers increases manifold.

Dedicated freight corridors in particular will immensely improve the turnaround time of railway cargo, while vacating massive capacity for improvement of passenger transport on the legacy lines. The frequent coal shortages at thermal power plants could become a thing past, improving power supply conditions materially.

Completion and operationalization of many key infrastructure projects in the next 24 months shall also catalyze significant follow up industrial and real estate capex in the private sector; while creating scope for another round of large infrastructure building capex in the public/private/joint sector.

It is pertinent to note that the period of FY04 to FY10 witnessed an average 6.8% of GDP spent on public sector capex. This number has plunged to 5.8% of GDP in the past 10 financial years (FY13 to FY22).