India 'needs big infrastructure drive'
India needs to increase the money it spends on improving roads and other infrastrastructure projects by four times - to about $100bn a year - if it is to have a chance of maintaining the pace of its recent economic expansion, according to one of India's leading business executives.
A M Naik, chairman of Larsen & Toubro, a Mumbai-based engineering and construction conglomerate, said: "There is no alternative to improving India's infrastructure if we want to keep the economy growing at 7-8 per cent a year and in particular help the expansion of manufacturing."
Mr Naik said most of the money would need to come from central or state governments. But he was "encouraged" by the increased willingness of companies - Indian and foreign-owned - to get involved with infrastructure projects. Of the $1,000bn in total investments over 10 years that he thinks is necessary, a quarter would go on improving electricity generation and distribution, is one of the major problems faced by companies in India.
Mr Naik's comments underline business concerns about the poor state of roads, ports and public transport, together with other infrastructure failings such as the lack of affordable housing. Many believe the issue should be the number one priority for the government, which is keen to lift annual economic growth to 10 per cent and to put the economy on an expansion path to rival China's.
Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata, one of India's biggest industrial groups, said: "Unless India does something about its infrastructure failings, it will not be able to sustain even its current levels of growth."
Some industrialists link the failure to provide decent roads and other transport projects to India's relatively low level of foreign investments, which are depressed, they say, by the perception of many overseas companies that India remains stuck in the past.
India attracted $5.3bn in foreign investment in 2004, according to United Nations figures, compared to $60.6bn for China, and few expect the figure to pick up significantly in the next few years.
Venu Srinivasan, chairman of TVS Motor, a Chennai-based motorcycle maker, said poor infrastructure meant none of India's 10-15 largest cities were "liveable in" by the standards of moderately well-off foreigners.
"To make a difference, India needs to bring at least one of its cities to the living standards not necessarily of a European city but a comparable Asian centre such as Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur," he said. "I am not hopeful of this happening in the next few years."
Some Indian business people despair that India will ever show the resolve necessary to tackle the infrastructure failings. "A lot of Indian people are too patient and philosophical. I feel sometimes that if we were to give the country to the Japanese or Germans they would make more out of it," said Ashok Jayaram, managing director of the India activities of Rotork, a UK engineering business.
However, Lakshmi Mittal, chairman and majority owner of Mittal Steel, the world's biggest steelmaker, is more hopeful. He plans to invest up to $9bn in a new steel plant in eastern India, his first large business project in his homeland. "Infrastructure in India needs to be improved, but it is negative and myopic to believe the problems are a major stumbling block to growth," he said.
印度：要想富 先修路
据印度的一名主要企业高管表示，如果印度想把握机遇保持近期的经济扩张步伐，就需要把用于改善道路与其它基础设施的资金增长4倍，也就是达每年1000亿美元左右。
总部位于孟买的工程建筑集团企业Larsen & Toubro董事长A?M?奈克(A M Naik)表示：“如果我们想保持每年7%至8%的经济增长率，特别是帮助制造业扩张，除了改善印度的基础设施外别无它法。”
奈克先生表示，大部分资金需要由中央或各邦政府提供。但随着印度及外资企业介入基础设施项目的意愿提升，他因此倍感“鼓舞”。他认为，印度在今后10年总共需要在基础建设上投入1万亿美元，其中四分之一将用于继续改善发电与供电。发电与供电是企业在印度面临的主要问题之一。
奈克先生的话突显了企业的忧虑，它们都担心糟糕的道路、港口和公共交通状况。他的话也突显了其它基础设施的不足，比如缺少人们负担得起的住房。许多人认为，基础设施问题应该成为政府的重中之重。印度政府渴望将经济年增长率提高至10%，让印度经济走上能媲美中国的扩张之路。
塔塔(Tata)是印度最大的工业集团之一，该集团董事长拉坦?塔塔(Ratan Tata)表示：“除非印度想办法改善其基础设施不足的问题，否则连目前的增长水平也无法维持。”
部分实业家认为，像样的道路和其它交通项目的不足，与印度水平相对较低的外国投资有关。他们表示，许多海外企业都认为，印度还在固守老一套，因此抑制了外国投资。
根据联合国(UN)的数据，2004年印度吸引了53亿美元外国投资，而中国则为606亿美元。几乎没有人认为，印度的这个数字会在未来几年有重大改观。
总部位于印度晨奈的摩托车制造商TVS Motor董事长韦努?斯里尼瓦桑(Venu Srinivasan)表示，欠佳的基础设施意味着，以中等富裕外国人的标准来衡量，印度最大的10到15座城市，没有一座“适宜居住”。
“为了改变现状，印度需要至少把一个城市的生活水平，提高到(未必是欧洲城市)与亚洲中心城市相当的水平，比如雅加达或吉隆坡，”他表示，“我对此并不乐观，今后几年不会发生这种转变。”
对于印度到底有没有解决基础设施不足的决心，印度的部分商界人士深感绝望。“许多印度人耐心太好，太达观了。有时候我觉得，如果我们把印度交给日本或者德国，它们会做成更多事情，”罗托克(Rotork)印度子公司董事总经理阿肖克?贾亚拉姆(Ashok Jayaram)说。罗托克是一家英国工程企业。
不过，世界最大钢铁企业米塔尔钢铁(Mittal Steel)董事长及多数股东拉克希米?米塔尔(Lakshmi Mittal)则比较乐观。他计划在印度东部投资高达90亿美元，兴建一座新的钢铁厂，这是他在家乡的首个大型企业项目。他表示：“印度的基础设施需要改善，但如果认为这些问题是增长的主要障碍，则是消极与近视的。”
