By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI:Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) Online Dashboard here on Monday through video conferencing.
The online dashboard is envisaged as a one stop solution for all stakeholders looking for information on infrastructure projects in New India. The dashboard is being hosted on the India Investment Grid (IIG) (www.indiainvestmentgrid.gov.in). IIG is an interactive and dynamic online platform that showcases updated & real-time investment opportunities in the country.
The inaugural was attended by members of the High-Level Task Force on Infrastructure and Secretaries of various ministries and government departments.Speaking at the event, Smt. Sitharaman said, “NIP will provide a boost to the vision of an Aatma Nirbhar Bharat. The availability of NIP projects on IIG will ensure easy accessibility to updated project information and attract investors for PPP projects. This is a great step in the direction of implementing NIP- giving a fillip to infrastructure development in the country”.
India Investment Grid (IIG) (www.indiainvestmentgrid.gov.in), is an interactive and dynamic online platform to showcase the best of investment opportunities in India to the global investor community. Developed and managed by Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency, IIG serves as the gateway to investments in India, and is also widely used by Indian missions and embassies across the world. IIG allows investors to:Search a pan-India database for investment opportunities across sectors, Track the progress of preferred projects and indicate interest and Directly communicate with project promoters.
In the budget speech of 2019-2020, Finance Minister Sitharaman announced an outlay of Rs 100 lakh Crore for infrastructure projects over the next 5 years. The budget announcement followed the Independence Day speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wherein he highlighted that “For development of modern infrastructure, an amount of Rs 100 lakh Crore has been earmarked for this period which will create new job opportunities besides improving the living standards”.
In furtherance to this, a high level Task Force submitted a final report on the National Infrastructure Pipeline with projected infrastructure investment of Rs 111 Lakh Crore during FY 2020-25.
NIP is a first-of-its-kind initiative to provide world-class infrastructure across the country and improve the quality of life for all citizens. NIP will improve project preparation, attract investments (both domestic & foreign) into infrastructure, and will be crucial for attaining the target of becoming a $5 trillion economy by FY 2025. NIP covers both economic and social infrastructure projects- based on the updated Harmonized Master List of Infrastructure.
Out of the total expected capital expenditure of Rs 111 lakh Crore, projects worth Rs 44 lakh Crore (40%) are under implementation, projects worth Rs 33 lakh Crore (30%) are at a conceptual stage, projects worth Rs 22 lakh Crore (20%) are under development (project identified and DPR prepared, but yet to draw-down funds) and the balance projects worth Rs 11 lakh Crore (10%) are unclassified. The entire gamut of projects will now be hosted on IIG to provide visibility to NIP and attract investments from global & domestic investors.
The NIP project database under Volume III of the Final Report of the NIP Task Force is made available on IIG in order to provide access to updated project level information for investments across infrastructure sectors. The Digital platform will provide greater visibility to projects and also achieve the mandate of the NIP to market the projects in an efficient manner. The NIP project database hosted on India Investment Grid (IIG) would provide visibility to the NIP and help in financing with prospective investors; domestic and foreign, able to access updated project level information.
In addition, it is also a monitoring and evaluation tool to be used by the concerned ministries/departments and DEA to monitor the implementation and actual progress vis-à-vis initial estimates of the NIP for each and every project. Sitharaman has asked all concerned department/ministries to immediately update the status of projects on NIP portal and keep it updated in real time. She has also asked all concerned department/ministries to show concrete progress in terms of project and reforms implementation.
