From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Mar 27: A whopping investments to the tune of about Rs 13 lac crore in projects related to the capital intensive transport sector are in limbo, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
The investments in the transport sector account for roughly 57 per cent of the total outstanding investments worth over Rs 22 lac crore attracted by the sector across India as of December 2013.
“Investments lured by the transport services sector across top 20 states in India, on an average have been growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 16 per cent during the course of past five years (2009-2013),” says a sector specific analysis carried out by ASSOCHAM.
“Maharashtra topped with highest share of over 20 per cent in the total outstanding investments attracted by the transport services sector thereby clocking CAGR of about 17 per cent during the course of past five years 2009-2013, besides the state has also slightly improved its share from 19.8 per cent (2009) to 20.4 per cent (2013) during the aforesaid five-year period,” said D S Rawat, secretary general of ASSOCHAM.
Gujarat (8.9 per cent), Tamil Nadu (8.4 per cent), Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh (6.4 per cent each) are amid top five states in terms of share in total outstanding investments attracted by the transport services sector as of December 2013, noted the analysis.
Apart from Maharashtra, all other states have witnessed decline in terms of their share during the course of past five years.
The share of Gujarat in total outstanding investments was 11.9 per cent as of December 2009, likewise in Tamil Nadu (9.2 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (6.7 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (9.3 per cent).
In terms of growth, Chhattisgarh has ranked on top clocking highest CAGR of over 70 per cent as the outstanding investments in transport services attracted by the state increased significantly from over Rs 3,800 crore as of December 2009 to over Rs 32,200 crore as of December 2013.
Chattisgarh also managed to improve its share from 0.3 per cent to 1.5 per cent.
Among other states that have clocked high growth in attracting investments in the transport services sector are: Bihar (35.6 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (33.2 per cent), Rajasthan (31.9 per cent) and Haryana (29.7 per cent).
In terms of implementation, Jammu and Kashmir has 89.3 per cent of projects remained non-starter followed by Punjab (89.2 per cent), Bihar (88.2 per cent), Haryana (80.8 per cent) and Jharkhand (74.6 per cent).
Over 44 per cent of total households in India do not have any mode of transport and largely depend upon public transport services, besides, the situation is even worse in rural areas where over 47 per cent households do not own any mode of transport while in urban areas about 37 per cent households do not have any mode of transport.
“This calls for urgent need to perk up the transport services scenario across India,” Rawat said.
Proper implementation of transport services projects is the need of the hour considering its positive impact on providing better accessibility, employment opportunities together with social inclusion, further noted the ASSOCHAM analysis.
Public private partnership (PPP) is the most suitable model for transport services’ development in India, besides, infrastructure development, promotion of green-energy based transportation and extension of financial incentives like tax sops to industrialists willing to invest in transport related services in rural and other backward areas are certain key measures to spruce up transportation scenario across India, the analysis said.
It is imperative to upgrade transport services segment while considering the environmental and economic demographics to take Indian transport sector to the next level as part of a comprehensive and sustainable policy for meeting the country’s transport requirements.
There is a need to bring in expertise within the whole transport system from policy making to designing and execution, Rawat added.