In 1996, five years after economic liberalisation, economist Rakesh Mohan, then the director general of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), submitted a document to the finance ministry that redefined India’s infrastructure.
Citing global trends and India’s ambitions to supercharge its economic growth, Mohan’s India Infrastructure Report called for more private sector participation in a space dominated till then by the government and paved the way for several reforms that India undertook in the coming years.
The report estimated India’s required investments in infrastructure in the next five years at ₹4.5 trillion, and said the share of private investments needed to rise to 44 per cent, from just 5 per cent when the report was prepared.
