Leveraging the economic viability, futuristic technology and public-private partnerships in infrastructure development, India will soon become a super economic power:

Nitin Gadkari at the CII Annual Session 2023

"With a well-functioning and developed road and transportation connectivity, we are embarking upon rising potentials in the tourism sector and has made tourism opportunities more affordable and accessible for individuals from all income strata," said Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways while speaking at the CII Annual Session 2023, the flagship convention for Indian industry, held under the theme of Future Frontiers: Competitiveness, Technology, Sustainability, and Internationalization.

However, in order to better the sector planning and development, the Minister urged that what is needed is the cooperation from the private sector to develop other facilities such as road-side amenities, restaurants, charging stations, helipads etcetera. He called out investments in various government projects including multi-modal parks, cold-storages, dry ports and satellite ports built to facilitate trade.

The Minister said, “among the key 3 pillars of our country—ethics, economy, and ecology and environment—it is quintessential to put an emphasis on ecology and environmental protection while engaging in any developmental activity”. He said that India currently imports Rs 16 lakh crore worth of fossil fuels. To reduce this, we have prioritized ethanol, methanol, electric cars, bio-CNG, and bio-LNG in public transport to reduce pollution. Hydrogen fuel is futuristic, he said. In terms of EV production, the Hon’ble Minister added that India was 4th in EV production and is currently 3rd, leapfrogging Japan, and would be 1st in 5 years. India is a major export hub of cars and in coming days, our tractor, buses, auto rickshaws will be exported too, remarked the Hon’ble Minister. He further highlighted that Government has plans to launch sky buses to reduce traffic congestion and with all such efforts, the world will see India not as an importer but also a major exporter of energy.

The Minister notably argued that since India has a lower paying capacity, thus, India needs cost-effective models of transport and the Government is progressively working to come up with such solutions. There have been plentiful efforts at the Government’s level to improvise road connectivity even in the hilly areas, which will further boost tourism and have a multiplier effect with and opportunities for employment generation. He further mentioned that credit ratings is very essential to improve quality and speed.

The Minister urged the private sector to come forward and leverage the increasing investment opportunities in the sector, given the increasing economic viability, per-capita GDP and rising opportunities. Entrepreneurship and adequate investments are highly important to make India a super economic power, as envisioned by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Modi.

Mr Sanjiv Bajaj, President, Confederation of Indian Industry remarked that “Using innovative approach towards project implementation and technological advancements, the road and transport sector has not only witnessed a tremendous transformation but also moved towards green and pro planet construction”. He applauded the Hon’ble Minister, Shri Nitin Gadkari Ji for his innovative approach towards project implementation which has tremendously benefitted the road and transport sector in terms of building 35 multi modal logistics parks, emergency landing strips, common payment tool for transport related services and most remarkable being the Motor Vehicles Scrap Policy, launched towards the fight to curb pollution. Besides highlighting the remarkable progress on the policy front, Mr Bajaj further applauded the Minister for reminding us of our own responsibilities, particularly nudging the industry to ensure safety on the highways as well as nudging producers to improve construction standards. He highlighted that CII is actively working in a number of similar areas and other issues like faster dispute resolution, release of arbitration payments can help the industry in further partnering with the government.

Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII moderated the session.

24 May 2023

New Delhi