Wooing Private Capex

The Finance Minister has dropped a hint in her Budget speech about the creation of a framework to bring in large private sector investments into infrastructure. Will it work?

- MANISH PANT

EVEN AS FINANCE Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asserted the importance of infrastructure in economic growth, apprehensions have been raised about subdued private sector investments in the space. In Budget 2023-24, she has allocated capex of ₹10 lakh crore, the highest in more than a decade.

Experts such as Rishi Agarwal, MD-India & Head-Asia at consultancy FSG, attribute the low level of private sector participation to a challenging economic environment. “It comes back to what the cost of capital looks like. And, also... there is a clear view of a recessionary market shortly,” he says. Agarwal points out how sunrise sectors such as EVs and green energy have attracted sizeable private capital due to the government’s policy support and incentives.