India offers huge opportunity for foreign investment: Chidambaram

ChidambaramThe government's focus on rapid infrastructure development a huge opportunity for foreign investment in India, Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said.

Mr. Chidambaram said the government's policies led to rapid infrastructure development in fields like power, roads, ports and civil aviation, which provided foreign investors with huge opportunities.

Speaking on the topic, the finance minister said, "There is huge opportunity for foreign investment. We have massive infrastructure projects underway."

To put weight to his comments, he cited the 1483 kilometer industrial corridor linking Delhi to Mumbai. He said the Delhi to Mumbai corridor would entail more than US$90 billion in investment.

The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor will include 9 mega industrial zones, high speed freight lines, a six-lane intersection-free expressway, six airports, three ports and a 4000 MW power plant.

He added that Indian economy's various sectors required total investment of around US$ 1 trillion during the 12th Five-Year Plan, and that around 50 per cent of that projected investment would likely come from the private sector.

Mr. Chidambaram further added that the Congress-led UPA Government was promoting Public Private Partnerships (PPP) as an efficient tool to bring private-sector efficiencies to deliver quality public services.