India Infrastructure leaders to invest in electric vehicles

With increased volatility and uncertainty in India’s economy, government, and real estate market, the country is experiencing a state of crisis that is beginning to affect the infrastructure sector. But are infra developers, investors and funders optimistic about the years to come? Or are they only predicting more of the same for the foreseeable future? GRI Hub surveyed senior investors, developers, operators, holding companies and lenders to gauge some of the trends and general thoughts that players in the industry have right now. 

The first clear-cut conclusion we can draw from the barometer is the large majority of people still interested in airports and roads, something that we observed in our last report as dominating investor interest. However, the next big thing in infrastructure seems to be services maintaining and charging support of electric vehicles, with investors and developers overwhelmingly listing it as their number one asset to perform positively over the next 12 months. 

It must also be noted however, that there is still a palpable uncertainty that the members have noticed. When asked about how they thought the economy would perform over the next 12 months, 43% thought it would perform better and 34% thought it would perform worse - this is much lower than the 75% from last year that thought it would perform better. This complete split in opinion is indicative of how people are not sure what’s going to happen, which is echoed in the second question when it was revealed that over half of the participants plan to observe the market over the next year instead of trying to invest or expand business. 

GRI Hub's India infrastructute barometer is distributed between GRI Club's most senior members every year, and is a great way to discern some of the trends we’re currently seeing. For a broader scope, you can download the full report below. 

India’s infrastructure markets will be discussed further at Infra India GRI 2020 which takes place 19 - 20 February in New Delhi.