Recognising China’s prowess in attracting and implementing infrastructure projects, finance minister P. Chidambaram today said India needs to “emulate” China in infrastructure development.

Despite having a different political environment, he said India can learn from China about execution of projects on time. This according to the FM includes enforcing a disciplined on those leading project execution, along with a reward-punishment incentive structure.

Speaking at a seminar on India’s infrastructure and the need for private public partnerships (PPP) Chidambaram said, “There is enough room in the world for both China and India to grow.” Pointing out that “China and India in many ways complement each other,” he said “in many areas, we (Indian and China) compete with each other.”

However, he also said that there was a lot to be learnt from China: “We believe that we can learn from China about execution of projects within time, strict discipline and reward-punishment system for those who are in-charge of project execution.”

Pointing out that the country needs $320 billion for its infrastructure sector to clock the high growth rates of 9-10 per cent over the next five years, the FM listed out a list of four constraints that needed to be resolved for ensuring that these projects bear fruition through the PPP mode.

• A need to develop a shelf of credible, bankable projects which could be offered for financing to the private sector.

• Developing adequate financial instruments and capacity to meet the long-term equity and debt financing needs of infrastructure projects.

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