You must take a note of the following key constituents of Indian Infrastructure:
Roads
Roads are a dominant mode of transportation in the country today. They carry about 65 per cent of India’s freight and about 90 per cent of its passenger traffic. India’s National Highway (NH) network stretches to 80,000 km. It has a density of 0.66 km of highway per square kilometre of land. It is enclosed by over 200 toll plazas, about half of which are operated by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) while the other half is handled by several highway developers.
Railways
Indian Railways is one of the busiest and largest rail networks in the world. The Indian Railways, which is a significant mode of transport for bulk freight traffic and passenger traffic, is spread over 64,015 route kilometres.
According to statistics released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow into the railways related components sector from April 2000 to March 2013 stood at US$ 270.33 million. The Indian Railways produced total estimated earnings on originating basis of Rs. 124,814.87 crore during 1st April 2012 to 31st March 2013 compared to Rs. 104,334.61 crore during the same period last year, indicating an increase of 19.63 per cent. While the total passenger revenue earnings shot up by 11.35 per cent, the total goods earnings increased by 23.24 per cent. The revenue earnings from other coaching during 1st April 2012 to 31st March 2013 amounted to Rs. 3,137.92 crore (US$ 540.88 million).
Ports
· 32 projects awarded by the ministry in 2012-13 will add an annual capacity of 136.75 MT across the Indian port segment; involving an investment of Rs. 6,765.63 crore (US$ 1.17 billion).
· Total cargo handled at major ports in the country during April–February 2013 stood at 498 MT.
Power
According to the statistics released by Corporate Catalyst India in its brief report on ‘Power and Energy Industry in India’, of the total energy generated in India about 55 per cent is based on coal, 26 per cent on hydro, 3 per cent on nuclear, 10 per cent on gas, 3 per cent on renewable sources and 1 per cent on diesel.
Reliance Power owned by Anil Ambani has started commercial generation from the first 660 megawatt (MW)-unit of Sasan Ultra-Mega Power Project (UMPP) in Madhya Pradesh. Being the largest integrated power plant and coal mining project in the world, Sasan project has an estimated expenditure of over Rs. 23,000 crore (US$ 4 billion). Power generated by this facility is expected to be sold to 4 distribution firms across seven states.
After the Tata Group’s Mundra Port, Sasan project is the second showcase power project.
Aviation
· As per the data released by DIPP, the air transport along with air freight in India has attracted FDI worth US$ 449.26 million from April 2000 to March 2013.
· No-frill carrier IndiGo leads in terms of market share with 29.8 per cent of the pie. It is also followed by Jet Airways-Jet Lite combine at 22.6 per cent, Spice Jet 19.6 per cent, Air India Domestic 19.2 per cent and Go Air at 8.9 per cent for the January–April 2013 period.
· Official statistics revealed that total domestic passengers carried between January and April 2013 by the scheduled domestic airlines were 20.289 million.
