News:The government has constituted a task force for drawing up National Infrastructure Pipeline of 100 lakh crore rupees from the fiscal year 2019-20 to 2024-25.
Facts:
- The Task Force will be headed by Economic Affairs Secretary.
- The mandate of the task force is to identify technically feasible and economically viable infrastructure projects that can be initiated in the current fiscal.
- The task force will also work on listing the projects that can be included in the pipeline for each of the remaining 5 years.
- Further,the task force will also (a)estimate annual infrastructure investment costs (b)guide the Ministries in identifying appropriate sources of financing and (c)suggest measures to monitor the projects so that cost and time overrun is minimized.
Additional information:
National Infrastructure Pipeline:
- National Infrastructure Pipeline includes greenfield and brownfield projects costing above 100 crore rupees.
- It also enables marketing of the pipeline of projects requiring private investment through the India Investment Grid and National Investment & Infrastructure Fund.
Greenfield and Brownfield Projects
- Greenfield investment is investment in new plants.It is establishing new production capacity by an investor or company.
- On the other hand, Brownfield investment is an investor investing in an existing plant.Brownfield investment is mainly made through mergers and acquisitions.
India Investment Grid:
- India Investment Grid (IIG) is an initiative of the Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT) Ministry of Commerce and Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency.
- It showcases a menu of investment options across India on a single online interactive platform.
- It also connects potential investors to project promoters across India.
National Investment and Infrastructure fund(NIIF):
- NIIF was set up in 2015 as an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable greenfield, brownfield and stalled projects in the infrastructure sector.
- NIIF invests in areas such as energy, transportation, housing, water, waste management and other infrastructure-related sectors in India.
