Opinion | Remaking India: Modi’s Massive Infrastructure Driven India’s Economic Growth
India will have significant challenges in 2024. In fewer than five months, Indians will choose a new government, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi continuing to lead the polls by a significant majority. With a 76% approval rating, Morning Consult has determined that Modi is the most popular leader in the world once again. There is cause for PM Modi’s lead in the next Lok Sabha elections. India is changing as we know it; a nation that once settled for mediocre government is now demanding much more.
Since 2014, constructing robust infrastructure to support India’s economic expansion has been the Modi government’s main priority. It is not strange that, even after ten years in office, Modi is still the front-runner for prime minister because of the discernible progress being made on the ground. The general consensus is that Modi is the one who can guarantee that India’s growth trajectory continues unhindered.
Let’s start with the Ayodhya case. Ayodhya is the city in the center of attention as the country prepares for the opening of the Ram Mandir. PM Modi dedicated a brand-new, luxurious airport and a completely renovated railway station to Ayodhya on December 30 of last year. And it was just the very beginning. The prime minister then dedicated development projects in Uttar Pradesh totaling over Rs 15,700 crore. Of this amount, Rs 11,100 crore has been set up specifically for the construction of Ayodhya. Alongside historic ashrams, historic ponds, and temples located throughout the town, the roads leading up to the Ram Mandir have been enlarged and enhanced. Additionally, there will be trains to and from Ayodhya named Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat, which represent a new India.
Ayodhya provides a preview of the type of development happening all throughout the nation. Given India’s image before 2014, infrastructure development is now occurring across the country at a pace that was previously thought to be unfeasible. India is now seen as a nation driven to greatness, having not so long ago been plagued with unbeatable red tape, corruption, and policy paralysis.
India is set to see the inauguration of many massive infrastructure projects this year alone, particularly in the lead-up to the Lok Sabha elections. According to News18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to launch at least five historic projects throughout the next two months. The world’s tallest rail bridge, the Chenab Bridge in J&K; the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link; the section of the Delhi-Mumbai highway that passes through Gujarat; the Dwarka highway in Delhi; and the Agra Metro to the Taj Mahal are the five major projects on the PM’s table.
In addition to this, major projects including the Mumbai Coastal Road, Noida Airport, Aqua Line 3 of the Mumbai metro network, and Navi Mumbai International Airport will also be completed this year. In addition to these, the Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway, Sela Tunnel, and Trans-Arunachal Highway are almost finished.
The Road Revolution in India
The emphasis on making India’s road networks among the greatest in the world, rather than merely building more of them nationwide, is a defining feature of the country’s amazing infrastructure drive. In order to reverse the trajectory of its economy and secure a future that can be considered “developed,” a nation must first establish a strong and superior road network. India now possesses the second-largest road network in the world, only surpassed by the US. Thanks to the efforts made over the last ten years, India has surpassed China in terms of road networks.
Currently, India’s road network spans over 63.31 lakh kilometers. The figures are self-explanatory. There were 91,287 kilometers of National Highways in total in 2014. This length increased to 1,45,240 km in 2022–2023, a startling 59% increase in only nine years. Since 2010, the rate at which national roads are being built has increased six times. In a similar vein, four-lane National Highways have quadrupled in length from 18,371 km in 2014 to 44,654 km at now. The nation has set an unprecedented goal for this year: 13,800 kilometers of new highway construction.
There has also been a notable increase in the rate at which roads are being constructed. Roughly 12 km of new roads were constructed daily in 2014–15. The pace of road development increased to 29 kilometers per day by 2021–2022. Additionally, since 2014, the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana has constructed more than 350,000 km of rural roads. This has been essential in ensuring year-round accessibility to India’s villages, which is inevitably benefiting the country’s rural economy.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) published a paper last year titled “The Indian Roads and Highways Sector,” which noted that between 2015 and 2022, there was a significant rise in both the average annual award duration and the average annual road construction length. It also mentions how expressways are now the preferred choice for modernizing India’s road system. According to Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, India’s road network would catch up to that of the US in the next five years.
At a total expenditure of Rs 4.08 lakh crore, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways is building 27 Greenfield routes, including five expressways totaling 9,860 km in length. Greenfield corridors are particularly important because, while they travel through undeveloped and deserted areas, they will play a key role in bringing about development in new areas, which will strengthen the local economy. For instance, since 2014, the Modi administration has approved national highway projects in the Northeast alone, totaling around Rs 3 lakh crore.
Any nation may benefit strategically from having strong infrastructure in its border regions, and India is well aware of this. India has significantly increased infrastructure construction along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Along the LAC, 205 projects have been completed in the last two years alone. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has a 100% boost in funding according to the Modi administration. The BRO is now doing construction on airfields, highways, bridges, and tunnels totaling Rs 16,000 crore this year.
The US President at the time, Dwight D. Eisenhower, realized in 1956 how crucial road construction is to a nation’s economic development. He helped to establish the interstate highway system in the United States. Similar road revolutions are happening in India now, linking rural and urban regions and all points in between, facilitating quick and easy travel and promoting economic growth.
THE EVOLUTION OF INDIA’S AIRWAYS AND RAILWAYS
Although they play a significant role in India’s continuous infrastructure development, the Modi administration is not just focused on roads. One of the government’s top policy goals is the comprehensive modernization of India’s aviation and railway systems. PM Modi is personally signaling the departure of Vande Bharat trains, which are now running on 25 routes around the nation, for a purpose.
The trains Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat serve as a symbol of Indian Railways’ evolving character. India’s railroads are receiving a much-needed overhaul, transitioning from the shabby, high-speed, and untimely trains of the past to the slick, fast, and contemporary Vande Bharat trains of today. The Modi government’s decision that the Railways required a significant overhaul to better serve the nation’s requirements as it moves forward on the developmental path with the aim of a “Viksit Bharat” has made this transition feasible.
Over the last five years, there has been a steady increase in investments in railway infrastructure, with a total of Rs 2.4 lakh crore for the current fiscal year. Almost all railway lines have been electrified; in the last nine years, 37,011 route kilometers have been covered. It is significant that India will have a completely electrified rail network in a few months.
Furthermore, by 2025–2026, the KAVACH automated train collision avoidance system will be deployed over 5,000 kilometers annually; by March 2025, the system would be fully deployed on the Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah lines. As a result, improving the appearance and feel of the railroads is just as important as ensuring safety. In addition, the railroads are developing a massive expansion plan that will eliminate the dreaded “waitlists.” The proposal calls for adding 3,000 additional trains over the course of the next three to four years, bringing the total number of trains operating daily to 13,000 units. Every year, a network of 4,000–5,000 kilometers of track will be constructed out to handle these trains.
In relation to railroads, it is impossible to overlook India’s current metro growth. A total of 1,056 kilometers have been planned, 372 kilometers of routes have been authorized, and around 462 kilometers of metro rail are now being built. This will bring the total length of India’s metro rail system to almost 2,750 kilometers. India would then own the second-largest metro rail network globally.
Recall that there were just five metropolises in India in 2014. That figure has increased to 20 today. Similar to this, India’s metro network spanned 248 kilometers in total in 2014. India’s metro networks have grown to a total length of 870 kilometers in only nine years. The average monthly length of metro lines was 0.68 km before to 2014; it is now 5.6 km.
A major accomplishment of the Modi administration has been the democratization of aviation in India. It was previously said by Prime Minister Modi that he want to provide air travel for everyone, including those who wear slippers. There are now 150 airports in operation in India, up from five new airports and terminals in just the last year. By 2025, the Modi administration hopes to raise this figure to 220. There were just 74 airports in operation in India in 2014. The aviation market in India is expanding at the quickest rate in the globe.
Industry observers see the general pattern. Thus, it is not shocking that Air India and IndiGo have placed enormous orders for brand-new aircraft—470 jets from Boeing and Airbus for the former, and 500 from Airbus for the latter. It is anticipated that Akasa Air, the most recent airline to enter the Indian market, would shortly put an order with Boeing for 150 aircraft. The industry is clearly in a highly positive attitude, and the orders for large aircraft will be crucial to India emerging as the world’s next aviation giant.
BHARAT’S CHANCE TO GLOW
It is anticipated that infrastructure would grow to be the primary driver of India’s economic growth. Between 2024 and 2030, the Center intends to spend Rs 143 lakh crore in infrastructure. That is twice as much as India has spent in the last seven years on infrastructure. All of this is in line with Prime Minister Modi’s objective of having developed India by 2047.
Is the current change occurring in India by coincidence? Morgan Stanley views the situation differently. According to the American Investment Bank, India’s major policy choices since 2014—such as the emphasis on foreign direct investment (FDI), supply-side reforms, formalization of the economy, regulation of real estate, digitization of social transfers, and insolvency and bankruptcy reforms—have had a profoundly transformative effect on the country’s economy.
Additionally, Morgan Stanley projects that India’s industrial output would increase from $447 billion in 2022 to $1,500 billion by 2032. Its export market share is predicted to increase from 2.2% in 2021 to 4.5% by 2031, a more than twofold increase. In a similar vein, it is anticipated that by 2032, India’s per capita income would have more than doubled to $5,200.
India’s building industry is expanding as well, propelled by a growth in the country’s need for homes and significant public infrastructure investment. The present 70 million employment in this industry might grow by up to 30 million by March 2030, according to consulting company Knight Frank.
Today, the PM Gati Shakti Masterplan is driving India’s tremendous infrastructure effort. “Multimodal connectivity” is the watchword of the day in New Delhi’s power corridors, which is why inland waterways, ports, and railroads have become more important in India’s logistics industry.
India aspires to be a more powerful maritime nation, and in order to do so, the nation has to develop modern ports that can manage higher cargo loads. At major ports, the average turnaround time decreased from 127 hours in 2010–11 to 53 hours in 2021–22. During 2014–15, major ports have seen a rise in traffic of over 100 million tons, or nearly 24 per cent higher. In contrast, port capacity has increased by 83%, or more than 700 million tons, since 2014.
The exact scope and magnitude of India’s transition remain to be seen. India will have overcome its image as a nation that struggles to propel growth in the next years as an increasing number of infrastructure projects are finished and even more ambitious ones are undertaken. Rather, it will be seen as a nation that began an impressive infrastructure project in tandem with its increasing economic prominence.
After all, by 2027, India’s GDP is predicted to rank third in the globe. The infrastructure of the nation should appropriately reflect this economic growth.
