THE TRILLION DOLLAR OPPORTUNITY

India's infrastructure challenge has been famously described as the $1-trillion opportunity by World Bank. The Narendra Modi led government has gone on record with a 13-km daily road building exercise already underway.In the railways sector in particular, the government has taken action to open up foreign direct investment (FDI) in various segments [see graph]. A foreign player can invest now up to 100 per cent in most areas of rail infrastructure such as suburban rail, metro rail, locomotive and rolling stock and dedicated freight lines.In high-speed railway projects - informally called bullet trains - a foreign player is now allowed to run a parallel and fully privatised railway company. Foreign corporations such as Bombardier, GE, Alstom, Siemens, EMD, Mitsubishi, Toshiba and Mitsui are expected to bring in both money and state-of-the-art technology.The proposed National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF) to back new and stressed projects is likely to help restart the investment cycle in this high-pressure sector. The fund will help fill the gap of massive investments required to build roads, power plants and public transportation services.In the words of Nitin Gadkari, India's minister in charge of road transport, highways and shipping: “I'm confident we'll succeed in converting all problems into opportunities.”