New Delhi: The Union finance ministry on Tuesday announced the second pipeline of 852 infrastructure projects, dominated by highways, to be developed under the public-private partnership model with a combined cost of over ₹17 trillion.
The development follows the announcement in the Union budget for FY26 to prepare a three-year project pipeline for developing infrastructure under public-private partnership (PPP). This provides early visibility of potential PPP projects for investors, developers and other stakeholders to make more informed planning and investment decisions, the ministry said.
The projects would include energy, transportation and logistics, social and commercial infrastructure, water and sanitation sectors.
The highest number of projects would come under the Union ministry of road transport and highways (Morth)–108 projects, with an estimated cost over ₹8.76 trillion, according to data provided by the ministry.
The other departments and ministries concerned include power (46 projects worth ₹3.40 trillion); water resources, river development and Ganja rejuvenation (29 projects costing ₹12,253 crore); shipping and waterways (22 projects worth ₹37,644 crore).
Centre to drive bulk of PPP spending
Of the total investment of ₹17 trillion targeted under the three-year National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) 2.0, central government ministries and departments account for the bulk of ₹13 trillion of investment in PPP projects, while the remaining ₹4 trillion is expected in public-private partnership projects at the state level and across Union territories.
A large part of PPP projects is expected to come via investments in roads and highways awarded under the build, operate and transfer (BoT) route, where investment would be sought from the private sector. In addition, Morth will take up investment in access-controlled highways to build a high-speed golden quadrilateral of expressways.
The railways, which has been slow to initiate PPP projects, is also likely to secure investment in high-speed network development and freight trains, apart from expanding the manufacturing capabilities of semi high-speed trains such as Vande Bharat trains.
For ports and highways, PPP initiatives are likely to gain ground over the next three years in building shipbuilding clusters and ship repair facilities. Also, the government will step up investment in creating new greenfield mega ports while expanding and modernising existing ones.
The new three-year National Infrastructure Pipeline or NIP 2.0 follows NIP 1.0, which was launched in 2019 to attract investment in infrastructure projects with a project cost of more than ₹100 crore. This NIP projected an outlay of more than ₹100 trillion over the five years until the end of 2024-25 across transport, energy, urban and rural development, and digital infrastructure projects.
According to ratings agency Icra Ltd, as of March 2025, NIP 1.0 covered 13,000 projects with a total cost of ₹185 trillion, nearly half of which is concentrated in the transport sector. This compares to more than 6,800 projects with an investment of ₹111 trillion when the NIP was launched.
Over the years, around 3,500 projects with an estimated investment of ₹25 trillion were added to NIP 1.0, of which around ₹17-18 trillion has been added to the transport sector, chiefly in roads and bridges. In FY25, eight sectors were added, increasing the list to 33 sectors.
There were 57 sub-sectors as of March 2024, which went up to 79 by March 2025.
India’s focus on strengthening infrastructure, reducing fossil fuel consumption, fighting climate change and providing housing for all is visible through the NIP investments. However, the completion of projects was low at 20% as of March 2024, with work underway on another 45% of the project, the Icra report said.
According to the Global Infrastructure Outlook 2017 published by Oxford Economics, the estimated global infrastructure investment requirement is $94 trillion from 2016 to 2040. Of this, 50% is required in Asia alone (with China, India and Japan being major contributors), and the roads and electricity sub-sectors will constitute 67% of these investment needs. Another study has estimated that while the demand for infrastructure is growing at about $4 trillion per annum, the supply of infrastructure is growing at only $2.7 trillion annually, leading to a deficit of $1-1.5 trillion per annum.
The government estimates that India would need to spend $4.51 trillion on infrastructure by 2030 to realise the vision of a $5 trillion economy, and to continue on an escalated trajectory until 2030.