Cargo volumes in India are expected to grow 6 to 8 percent in the current fiscal, driven by healthy growth in container and coal segments, amid increased government investment in roads, ports and airport infrastructure, a report said. Wednesday.
Credit agency ICRA predicts that spending on transport infrastructure projects, including roads, ports and airports, will increase in the coming years, benefiting from solid government support, rising capital expenditure and a large pipeline of projects. The government has planned major investments under its ‘Maritime India Vision 2030’ to increase port capacity and infrastructure over the next decade.
This could lead to supply-demand mismatches in a few clusters, resulting in greater competition and price pressure for ports, the report said. ICRA expects the Indian government to continue to maintain a strong focus on investments in the road sector by increasing capital expenditure.
The Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways’ (MoRTH) budgetary allocation for the sector has increased over eight times over the past decade to Rs 2.7 lakh crore in FY 2025, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 22 per cent.
“India’s road construction is likely to grow by 5 to 8 percent to 12,500 to 13,000 km in FY 2025, following robust growth of around 20 percent in FY 2024. This pace of execution will be supported by a healthy pipeline of projects, government investments and an increased focus on project completion by MoRTH,” said Girishkumar Kadam, Senior Vice President and Group Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA.
According to the rating agency, investment in airport infrastructure will also remain healthy with around Rs 55,000 crore-Rs 60,000 crores of committed investments over the next three to four years, which will be channeled into projects such as new greenfield airports, brownfield development and airport expansions under the Airports Authority. of India (AAI).
Total passenger traffic at airports is likely to grow by a healthy 8-11 percent to around 407 million to 418 million passengers in FY 2025 from FY 2024, the report said.
