CNBC-TV18 | Mint Budget Verdict: The Infra Ministerial summit was addressed by speakers from various backgrounds
New Delhi: Riding on the success of its previous edition, Budget Verdict The Infra Ministerial, a first of its kind television news initiative is back with its second edition that was held on 17th March, at Hyatt Regency in New Delhi. CNBC-TV18 & Mint joined hands to create a unique interface between Budget makers and corporate leaders of India, with their one of a kind offering every year, following the budget announcement for the respective financial year.
The second edition offered a platform for all relevant stakeholders from the infrastructure sector to come under one roof to share insights, concerns, and suggestions for efficient policy formulation.
Brigade of key personalities from the government attended the summit including Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Union Minister-Railways, Chaudhary Birender Singh, Union Minister-Steel, Jayant Sinha, Minister of State-Civil Aviation, Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary-Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Aruna Sharma, Secretary-Ministry of Steel and Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State-Road Transport and Highways.
The discussion was hosted by CNBC-TV18’s Managing Editor, Shereen Bhan and was broadcasted LIVE on CNBC-TV18 and Moneycontrol.com
Some of the most relevant observations made at the second edition of the ‘Budget Verdict’ were:
Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary-Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology:
- Focus on improving digital infrastructure & making it cheaper
- In Last 2 Years, 70 Electronic Manufacturers have come to India
- Hope to achieve a target of 2 m Aadhaar Enable POS by September
- Working with respect to new payment banks, fin-tech cos to boost Digital Transactions
Aruna Sharma, Secretary-Ministry of Steel:
- Expect new steel policy by end of April 2017
- New steel policy includes protectionist steps, cost-reduction
- New steel policy will help to reduce transport cost by 1/3rd
Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Union Minister-Railways:
- Railways is overcoming the challenges and improving
- Goal he is trying to achieve & why & how they are going about it
- Problems facing railways deep-rooted, pumping money into network to handle traffic
- 65% of railways traffic is handled on just 16% of network, investing money into network
Chaudhary Birender Singh, Union Minister-Steel:
- Will aim to become 2nd largest steel producing country
- Steel imports down 39% over last 6 Months
- Will be saving 30% of foreign currency by cutting Import of coking coal
- Big obstacle in getting FDI was land acquisition, normally takes 5 yrs
Jayant Sinha, Minister of State-Civil Aviation:
- We’re building a regional aviation market in addition to national one that we already have
- Have launched major programs for station development, private sector can participate in part connectivity, rolling stocks. We are open to private sector participation in policy making
- FDI in aviation and the investment and jobs it can bring – Indian aviation sector has a liberal FDI regime. Aviation sector will add substantial number of jobs as it grows. Delhi airport to get 60-70 thousand crores of investment
- Goal is to create regional aviation market. Value proposition of aviation is very strong. We will add 50 more airports in next 6 months
Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State-Road Transport & Highways:
- Need funds worth Rs. 8 lk cr for constructing National Highways & they can be raised via toll revenue & PPP
- He said, that the ministry aims to lay 1 lakh km of national highways till 2024
