India Infrastructure: Building for Resilience

Over the last decade, India's infrastructure story has been one of scale. But as CRISIL's estimates show, the next five years (2027–31) will demand around ₹145–155 lakh crore in infrastructure investment — almost 1.9x the previous five years. In this conversation, Suresh Goyal, DG, NCAER, sits down with Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, Senior Director and Global Head at CRISIL Intelligence, to ask: how do we use a systems-thinking approach to build and finance resilient infrastructure? They discuss: Why the next decade must shift from "building infrastructure" to "building systems" — roads, rail, energy, and water need to be planned together Lessons from tunnel boring machine shortages, energy security, and India's limited flagged shipping fleet Unlocking domestic capital: insurance, pensions, InvITs, and retail investors as the next wave of infrastructure financiers The NHIT story: how investor participation grew from 27 to 600+ investors and AUM from ₹8,000 crore to ₹50,000 crore+ About Parisila Perspectives Parisila Perspectives is NCAER's podcast on macroeconomics and public policy. It features leading voices shaping India's economy, governance and development landscape. Learn more: • Newsletter: https://ncaer.org/contact/ • LinkedIn: / ncaer • X: https://x.com/ncaer • Website: https://ncaer.org Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:24 A decade of infrastructure progress — the numbers 01:18 Why the next decade needs a different approach 03:21 Systems thinking: assets as part of a larger network 04:01 Resilience and geopolitical shocks 08:38 Renewable energy vs. transmission bottlenecks 11:17 Ports, rail connectivity, and stranded capacity 13:17 Financing infrastructure: rethinking the concession model 34:13 Bridging the financing gap: private capital, InvITs, and domestic savings 37:56 The NHIT growth story 44:21 Closing thoughts: building for Viksit Bharat 2047