Steady growth of infrastructure sector in the past couple of years and stringent project execution timelines are expected to drive the demand for construction equipment.

Infrastructure development has always been on top of the agenda for our country. Every government has given due importance for the development of infrastructure facilities such as roads, railways, ports, airports, and industrial infrastructure of the country. After a lull in the past few years due to delay in clearances and project execution, the current government has proactively taken up infrastructure development in the country on fast track with the much required policy and regulation support. The new regime has been de-clogging and de-bottlenecking the sector with easier terms and regulations, plus a host of legal measures including insolvency resolution. Now the stage seems to be set with new players, new money, new opportunities in this new year.

Steps to push infra growth
The Union Government has taken many steps in the past few years to augment the facilities of infrastructure in the country. Transport infrastructure is the backbone of a country for its overall growth. The Road Transport & Highways Ministry has invested around Rs 3.17 trillion ($47.7 billion), while the Shipping Ministry has invested around
Rs 80,000 crore ($12 billion) in the past 2-3 years for building world-class highways and shipping infrastructure in the country. 

Road development: The government has scaled new heights in development of road infrastructure sector and is expected to complete national highways exceeding
9,000 km length during 2017-18. The ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojana providing seamless connectivity of interior and backward areas and borders of the country is to develop about 35,000 km in Phase-I at an estimated cost of Rs 5,35,000 crore. To raise equity from the market for its mature road assets, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will consider organising its road assets into special purpose vehicles and use innovative monetising structures like Toll, Operate and Transfer (TOT) and Infrastructure Investment Funds (InvITs).

Development of rail network: Strengthening the railway network and enhancing Railways' carrying capacity has been a major focus of the government. Railways' capex for the year 2018-19 has been pegged at Rs 1,48,528 crore. This includes 18,000 km of doubling, third and fourth line works and 5,000 km of gauge conversion. There has also been significant improvement in the achievement of physical targets by Railways as well. As part of optimal electrification of railway network, 4,000 km are targeted for commissioning during 2017-18. Redevelopment of 600 major railway stations is being taken up by Indian Railway Station Development Co Ltd. An institute is coming up at Vadodara to train manpower required for high speed rail projects.

Airport network: According to government estimates, in the last three years, the domestic air passenger traffic grew at 18 per cent per annum and airline companies placed orders for more than 900 aircraft. Regional connectivity scheme of UDAN initiated by the government last year shall connect 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads across the country. Operations have already started at 16 such airports. The government proposes to expand the country's airport capacity more than five times to handle a billion trips a year under a new initiative - NABH Nirman.
Port infrastructure: The government has taken various measures to improve the port connectivity and infrastructure in the country. A major step in this direction was the reintroduction of the ambitious Sagarmala project which was originally mooted by the Vajpayee government in 2003. The Rs 4-lakh crore project includes modernising port infrastructure; improving port connectivity through rail corridors, expressways, and inland water transport; creating coastal economic zones including a special economic zone at JN Port near Mumbai; and skill development of coastal and island communities.   

Urban infrastructure: In the urban infrastructure development, the government has two interlinked programmes - Smart Cities Mission and the AMRUT. Smart Cities Mission aims at building 100 Smart Cities with state-of-the-art amenities. According to the government, 99 cities have been selected with an outlay of Rs 2.04 lakh crore. These cities have started implementing various projects like Smart Command and Control Centre, Smart Roads, Solar Rooftops, Intelligent Transport Systems, and Smart Parks. Projects worth Rs 2,350 crore have been completed and works of Rs 20,852 crore are under progress.

Budget boost
Budget 2018-19 has given a big push for infrastructure growth in the country. The budget has allocated Rs 5.97 lakh crore for infrastructure, against the estimated expenditure of Rs 4.94 lakh crore in 2017-18. Also, the government has made an all-time high allocation to rail and road sectors in the budget. In the budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, ôInfrastructure is the growth driver of economy. Our country needs massive investments estimated to be in excess of Rs 50 lakh crore in infrastructure to increase growth of GDP, connect and integrate the nation with a network of roads, airports, railways, ports and inland waterways and to provide good quality services to our people.ö He also added that the Finance Ministry would leverage the India Infrastructure Finance Corporation Ltd (IIFCL) to help finance major infrastructure projects.

Opportunities for CE
With the massive plan for infrastructure development, the infrastructure equipment sector has big opportunity ahead. The pick up in construction and infrastructure project last year has pushed the demand for construction equipment in India.

According to market research reports, the demand for CE in 2016-17 witnessed a sharp growth of 40 per cent compared to the previous fiscal. Considering the ongoing construction activities and infrastructure growth, the CE market is expected to continue its growth momentum this year as well. The market research agencies forecast a 15-20 per cent growth in the fiscal 2017-18. In spite of instances such as the uncertainties on the GST rates, the CE market continued its growth trend during the year, thanks to the demand from construction and infrastructure sector.

Future brighter
While this year is continuing to be bright for infrastructure sector, the coming fiscal year looks even brighter, considering the increased focus by the government and the ambitious and confident stakeholders of the industry on the prospects.

Articles from industry leaders in the following pages bring forth the industry scenario, developments happening in the industry in terms of operations, technology and new concepts. Some of these articles were written before the current budget and the figures referred in these articles are of the previous budget.