US$ 1.4 trillion infra spending in the next 5 years

Addressing the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday that “As we envisage becoming a five trillion-dollar economy by 2024-25, our focus on creating world-class infrastructure has become even more resolute. If we spent USD 1.1 trillion on infrastructure in the last 10 years (2008-17), we now are going to invest about USD 1.4 trillion in the next five years.”

The minister also spoke about innovative financial vehicles such as Infrastructure Debt Funds (IDFs), Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), adopting PPP model and laying down a framework for municipal bonds to boost the sector’s development.