Infrastructure in India Challenges and the Way Ahead

Good social and physical infrastructure facilities are crucial for rapid economic growth, rapid human development, and poverty reduction. Thus, this study compares the levels of development of the social and physical infrastructure in India with those in other major emerging countries as well as developed countries. The study finds that India substantially lags behind other emerging countries in the access to and quality of health facilities, education, and vocational or skill training—probably a key reason why India has been so slow in eliminating poverty. Similarly, India's physical infrastructure also lags behind other emerging countries, especially in the sphere of electricity access and consumption per capita, internet access, level of air travel, and quality of sea ports. Given the urgent need for rapid development of our social and physical infrastructure, the study then tries to identify key challenges to infrastructure development and discusses some possible ways in which some of these challenges can be addressed.