Power to ports: The making of Indian infrastructure

Ministers and industry leaders hail India's infra transformation but underline the next frontier — balancing investments with sustainability, faster clearances, and affordable financing — for the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision

- SUDHEER PAL SINGH

Sample these figures: 10 km/day > Average pace of highway construction

90% > Railway network still running on diesel locomotives

40% > Aggregate technical & commercial losses in power sector

3% > Share of the population travelling by air

These numbers capture the state of India's infrastructure in the 1990s. Hard to believe, but true. If quality infrastructure is the backbone of rapid economic growth, it is little surprise that the pre-2000 Indian economy was marked by stifling state monopolies and unsustainable leakages across sectors.

Now, cut to 2025

The data tell a story of dramatic change: