Rajaram Venkataraman, Director-Infrastructure, India Ratings, said, “While the Budget addresses a gamut of infrastructure issues relating to its adequacy, financing, regulations, ease of investments and rebalancing of risks among the government and private sectors, it could have been more impactful had it addressed the core needs of the stranded projects and ways of release of the lenders’ capital stuck in these assets and the future of private investments in projects.”

The proposal to create a national investment and infrastructure fund with a Government’s annual equity of Rs 20,000 crore could provide impetus in deepening the infra-bond market and balancing the leverage profile between banks and the capital market that links the assets.

The proposed ‘plug and play’ (PP) approach of the government in respect of approvals and clearances, if implemented, should help lenders bear only the funding risks appropriate to them, as against the current equity and construction related risks.

The announcement regarding five ultra-mega power projects (20, 000 MW) on a PPP model will help achieve the government’s ‘power for all’ programme at a faster rate. The current sagging domestic investment sentiment could help vitalise foreign investor interest in the sector. Cost efficiencies on ultra-mega power projects could re-profile the generation capacities in terms of cost.

The completion of the 1,00,000 km of roads under construction and the announcement of new roads for 1,00,000 km with all approvals in place would redefine the transportation infrastructure by introducing newer models of concessions and widen the developer-base in the country.

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