Advocating involvement of private sector in urban infrastructure, CII said lack of a clear policy framework and operational guidelines have resulted in reduced investor confidence whereby there were few takers for several projects. "Infrastructure is a crucial driver of growth, and without much development of infrastructure sector, India would not be able to achieve a growth rate of seven to eight per cent," it said in a statement.

Presenting a seven-point agenda for facilitating private investment, CII said the first step should be to commercialise urban infrastructure and tariffs and user charges brought in line with the cost of provision.

This would encourage efficient use of resources and make the sector attractive for potential private players who in turn would be able to mobilise capital fromdomestic, international and institutional sources, it suggested.

While the policy framework for private sector and foreign investment should be transparent, public-private partnerships should be encouraged as these would be forerunners of large-scale private sector participation in the future. Funds from multilateral and other long-term funds in the domestic market would have to be used for lending to the core sector, CII said.