High Level Committee on Financing of Infrastructure

With an objective to promote creation of infrastructure for sustaining the growth momentum, the Indian Government on 18 November 2010 decided to form a High Level Committee on Financing of Infrastructure under the chairmanship of Rakesh Mohan, former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank and former Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs. The Committee whose tenure is 18 months will be serviced by the Planning Commission and the Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC). During the 11th Five Year Plan, the investment target is Rs. 2050000 crore. The government set up the high-level panel to evolve an enabling policy frame work for $1 trillion investment in infrastructure during the 12th five year plan that will begin in April 2012.For the 12th Plan, the likely investment target will be Rs. 4100000 crore (at constant  2006-07 prices), of which investment, about one half is expected from the private sector and a significant proportion of the balance half will be funded by public sector undertakings through market borrowings. It would be necessary to evolve policy responses to enable the flow of large capital resources of this order into infrastructure projects. The committee will thus strive for the following-

•    Assess the investment required to be made by the Central and State Government, Public   Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and the private sector in the ten major physical infrastructure sectors.
•    Identify areas and activities to be financed by the government, public sector undertakings and the private sector respectively.
•    Make recommendations on the role that government could play in developing the capital markets.
•    Examine the role of international capital flows in infrastructure financing and development.
•    Identify any regulatory/ legal impediments constraining private investment in infrastructure and make recommendations for their removal.