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Unit 2: Structure of Indian Economy

Dnata’s travel specialists will guide passengers about the visa process. Dnata’s travel specialists Notes
will then collect all the required documents and submit the visa application to the UAE
Government on behalf of the passenger.

Government Initiatives

You must be aware that two new projects recently sanctioned by the Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs (CCEA) involve investments of ` 1,700 crore (US$ 292.94 million). These
projects are aimed at increasing the capacity of ports in India. The Shipping ministry also made
plans to develop a harbour channel at Tuticorin Port at a cost of ` 7,500 crore (US$ 1.29 billion).
In February 2013, the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and the Société Nationale
des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF) which is the French National Railways, signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for technical cooperation in the field of Railways. Four
main areas of mutual collaboration have been included in the MoU. They are:
Modernisation of current operations and infrastructure;

Sub-urban trains;
Station renovation and operations; and
High speed and semi-high speed rail.
India and France decided to jointly execute an ‘operations and development’ feasibility project
on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail, under the High Speed Cooperation Programme.
The project will be financed by SNCF with support from the French Ministry of Finance.
This bi-lateral agreement has a validity of five years. This project can be extended by one year
with mutual consent of both the parties.
Moreover, multi-lateral body Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to facilitate a loan of
US$ 252 million for development of rural roads in Chhattisgarh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, West
Bengal and Odisha. The loan amount is the first portion of US$ 800 million-financing facility
under Rural Connectivity Investment Programme. It is predicted that the first phase of the
project will be completed in December, 2015.

Future Ahead

The infrastructure sector is expected to explode with new investments and developments in the
near future as the growth and progress of other industries would be straightaway dependant on
the basic infrastructure of the economy.

Did u know? A recent study stated that by the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period that is
by the year 2022 18,637 km of expressways need be built. According to this study,
infrastructure development (for expressway projects, on such a massive scale would require
about ` 450,000 crore (US$ 77.54 billion).
It is important for you to note that the CMIE or the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy
stated in its report that Indian Railways may have a healthy growth of 5.5 per cent in freight
traffic in 2013–14 as against a growth of 4 per cent in 2012–13. It is expected that this growth will
add to the healthy growth in the freight traffic of commodities such as cement, coal, iron ore for
steel plants and fertilizers.

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