Economic Survey Lecture 4: Physical & Digital Infrastructure: Lifting Potential Growth

The above video lecture is based on the Economic Survey 2022-23. Vajiram and Ravi will be publishing a series of lectures by Jayant Parikshat Sir, Indian Economy faculty for the General Studies Pre-cum-Main Comprehensive Programme. (https://vajiramandravi.com/courses/ge... )

The government wants to achieve the target of $5 trillion in GDP by 2025. Infrastructure has to the driver of economic growth. Infrastructure, being a melange of numerous sectors, its multiplier effects in the economy cannot be realised if it operates in silos. Thus, in 2019, Government of India adopted a forward-looking programmatic approach towards infrastructure. The National Infrastructure Pipeline was born with a projected investment of around ₹111 lakh crore for FY20-25 for developing a comprehensive view of infrastructure development in the country. The funding for infrastructure comes from a variety of sources, from government to the private sector to multilateral. However, given the quantum of funding involved, a creative financing option such as asset monetization was also envisaged through the 6 lakh crore National Monetisation Pipeline. The National Logistics Pipeline-2022 has set a target to reduce the cost of logistics from 14% of GDP to a global average of around 8% of GDP by 20230. Also, to improve the coordination and cooperation between various ministries and departments engaged in infrastructure in India, government launched PM Gati-Shakti.


In keeping with the winds of change around the globe, we have placed a great emphasis on digital and communications development, but, have taken the principle to new heights in terms of usability, interoperability and accessibility. In a very short time, the country has seen a great multiplier effect on social and economic growth through the different uses of digital enablement led by the humble mobile phone and the Aadhar number– targeted beneficiary identification for various benefits, provision of healthcare and education services and financial inclusion. Close to this, arrived the success story of India’s sui-generis payment infrastructure (UPI), which travelled internationally with select adoption and global acclaim.
The success of UPI, a common platform that serves as the backbone for diverse developments, has prompted the government to task itself with another innovative attempt towards democratising digital commerce through the ONDC which could potentially transform how businesses and consumers interact at present. Empowering the end-users with control over their data is an essential ongoing task that is guided by the Account Aggregator framework. As the developments would indicate, the world has moved seamlessly from the focus on physical infrastructure to investing in digital infrastructure. In the context of unique challenges, India’s infrastructure journey has been global in outlook, but domestic in innovation and implementation.

The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey 2022-23 in Parliament, which projects a baseline GDP growth of 6.5 per cent in real terms in FY24. The projection is broadly comparable to the estimates provided by multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, the IMF, and the ADB and by RBI, domestically. (https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/econom... )