In a recently concluded enterprise survey of 2,500 firms across 18 districts, we asked firms to identify the three main types of infrastructure that had the biggest impact on their business operations. Connectivity via roads was cited as the main infrastructure impediment across the manufacturing, s...
"The panel discussion on urban infrastructure challenges, moderated by national deals editor Shrija Agrawal, included Mumbai municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta; IDFC Institute CEO and senior fellow Reuben Abraham; former urban planner at Mumbai transportation support unit Sulakshana Mahajan; Vishwas ...
This Livemint opinion piece argues that the "introduction of GST seems to be a mixed bag for the infra sector—predictability and efficiency being the key advantages, while non-inclusion of sub-sectors, higher rate and certain restrictions are negatives."
"GST being a concurrent tax ...
This post in Livemint, while lauding Gurgaon for achiving "economist Edward Glaeser’s contention that cities are the ideal form of modern civilization", laments "the chaos created last week by the monsoon ... [as] a warning of what happens when the state abandons its role of shaping and ...
Praveen Chakravarty, Visiting Senior Fellow at IDFC Institute, recently made a presentation on Infrastructure Financing to policymakers in Delhi. You can click on the below link to download the presentation.
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Yoginder K. Alagh, in this Indian Express article, argues that "recognition [by] senior policymakers in the government that many so-called large villages are really urban areas but are not classified as towns on account of various reasons is a step in the right direction. Demographers...
Government of India selected 20 cities that includes five state capitals to launch its Smart Cities Mission. This Mint article explains:
"The cities in the first list have made it to the top of the competition based on implementation framework, including feasibility and cost-effectiveness w...
IDFC Institute hosted a private roundtable on “Facilitating an Easy Market for Affordable Housing Development in India” with developers, financiers, policy experts, and academics. This Briefing Paper summarises the key points raised, supporting the need for a more rationalised, consistent, ...
In this interesting article by Next City, Oscar Perry Abello takes the case study of a single city block in New York City and maps development in the block. He writes that the prescriptive approach to urban planning may not be the best way to plan for economic development.&n...
In this Times of India piece, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje writes:
"A modern state is a welfare state. But a modern state does not “spray and pray” with its subsidies...
Currently ration shops in Rajasthan stock only three items (wheat, sugar and kerosene), are open...
