India Seeks Project Implementation Expertise From MDBs To Draw 2047 Roadmap

India has asked multilateral development banks (MDBs) and institutions to share their project implementation strategies and help draw the road map for becoming a developed nation by the year 2047.

On 7 March 2023, the finance ministry had held a meeting with a group of multilateral banks and sought their inputs on what it termed a ‘budget-plus and finance-plus’ strategy. The inputs received would essentially cover the entire spectrum of project execution and will go beyond merely planning and financing. The ministry has made efforts to reach out to various multilateral lenders to help mobilise other development finance institutions (DFIs) and investors.

The ministry wants these MDBs such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank to also help develop strategies to reduce time and cost overruns and enable technology and knowledge transfers, among others.

The significant move comes amid expectations that various international entities including both public and private will show greater interest in investing in Indian projects if these are backed by MDBs since these MDBs enjoy top governance standards and credit ratings.

It's also part of the broader government method to further boost infrastructure creation to spur employment and economic growth.

From their part, representatives of the MDBs have promised to support in whatever ways they can.

As of February, 764 of 1,902 infrastructure projects involving an investment of about Rs 150 crore or more had been delayed, according to the government's latest flash report. This delay has inflated the cost of these projects by almost Rs 4 lakh crore from the original Rs 28 lakh crore projections to Rs 32 lakh crore now. Cost overruns however, in comparison to original project costs, eased a bit in February to hit a three-month low of 18.2 per cent.

The central government's capital spending outlay for financial year 2024-25 has been raised by 17 per cent upon the revised estimate for this fiscal to a record Rs 11.11 lakh crore, exceeding the revenue expenditure hike of over 4 per cent.