The students of TAPMI had the privilege of listening to Mr Amit Vora, Director of Business Development at CRISIL Risk and Infrastructure Solutions Limited, speaking on the topic ‘Infrastructure financing in India’, with a focus on the public private partnership or PPP model.

The event took place on 18th July and commenced with the welcome address. After a brief introduction about himself and his career, Mr Vora began his talk by highlighting the importance of investment in infrastructure and discussing the evolution of the PPP model. He touched upon various other models from the 1700s till the present era. He mentioned that the objective of the PPP model is risk sharing.

Mr Vora also addressed the challenges of the PPP model such as suboptimal allocation of risk, environmental clearance and land acquisition. He then discussed the situations under which the PPP model would be most effective. He also discussed the monitoring of the model.

He then went on to the financial aspects of infrastructure. He highlighted the existing issues like the private sector’s greed for money, unforeseen risks and gaps in viability. He said that a huge investment in infrastructure is needed presently and that India as a country needs to act.

crisil collageMr Vora put banks and NBFCs (Non-banking financial institutions) as sources of funds for investment in infrastructure. The bond market, being the future, can also be seen as a sound source of financing. Pension funds are also a viable source of financing.

Mr Vora concluded by addressing the issue of ‘how to leverage the PPP approach’. He said that a judicious and systematic approach of balancing the government and private resources along with a change in the mindset is required to make this model a success for infrastructure development in India. This was followed by a question and answer session, after which the vote of thanks was delivered.