The state of infrastructure in India leaves a lot to be desired is a fact well known. Time and again it has been pointed out how crucial it is to ramp up infrastructure if GDP growth has to go to the next level. But while the government has realised the importance of this, on the execution front it is sorely lacking. Take the infrastructure investment target for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) for instance. The government has envisaged a total investment of US$ 1 trillion in this space. Of this 50% is expected to come from the private sector. This is through the public-private partnership (PPP) route. But herein lies the problem. Once again it appears that this target will not be met. And this is because investment from the private sector is most likely to fall short.

Given the slowdown in the economy, most of the companies in the private sector have put investments on hold. The fact that they are stressed on the financial front have only made matters worse. The sector is plagued by issues relating to land acquisition and cumbersome clearance processes. Unless these are addressed on a priority basis, the current state of affairs would continue. Further, the US$ 1 trillion target was based on the assumption that the Indian economy would grow by 9% on an average which now seems quite unlikely. Hence, as has been the case in the past, this will be another classic case of targets set by the government not being met.