IFDA launches in New Delhi for Indian infrastructure
The Infrastructure Finance & Development Asia India Summit 2010 opened for its inaugural conference at the Shangri-La Eros Hotel in New Delhi last week, under the umbrella theme, “Setting Priorities and Mapping Goals for India’s Second Decade of Infrastructure.” With over 160 registered attendees, including leading infrastructure investors, project financiers, developers and industry professionals, the Summit was opened by a dynamic one-hour scene-setting discussion from Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Mr Ahluwalia highlighted the role regional governments have to play in infrastructure roll-out, and previewed the 12th 5-year plan, with its ambitious $1trillion spending target - which will demand that private sector investment rises from 30% of the current $500bn target to 70% of the $1trillion figure.
During the event, a series of private-sector panels comprehensively covered the challenges and opportunities in key sectors, including power and energy; water & waste management; roads, ports & railways; and alternative energies. Other highlight sessions included a CEO dialogue and interactive discussion on project financing models, and an agenda-setting round-up of the role of federal and state governments in establishing, promoting and facilitating projects. A particularly useful sidebar from development economist and Head of India Development Foundation, Shubhashis Gangopadhyay, was the correlation across the states between education levels and successful infrastructure rollout.
Top-flight speakers included major infrastructure company leaders such as Alwyn Bowden, CEO of Essar Projects; Rajiv Misra, Managing Director of CLP Power India and Rangarajan Balajee, COO of Auromira Energy; as well as significant figures from the investment side - including Philip Jackson, MD and head of infrastructure at JP Morgan; MK Sinha, President and CEO of IDFC Project Equity; Archana Hingorani, CEO and Executive Director of IL&FS Investment Managers; and Gautam Bhandari, MD and Head of Infrastructure Investment at Morgan Stanley.
Much remains to be done to adequately address India's infrastructure needs. All agreed, though, that IFDA represented a strong first step towards creating a platform for India's leading infrastructure investors, government officials and developers to share intelligence and develop policy. As Rangarajan Balajee, COO of Auro Mira Energy, said, "In ten years time, IFDA will be the event in India, and people who speak here will be recognized as leaders in their field."
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