The Railways has sizeable capex plans for the five year period 2015-19 involving a capital outlay of Rs.8.56 trillion. The annual capital outlay for FY2016-18 was increased significantly to meet the five-year targets. NITI Aayog has also finalised the three year action agenda (2018-20).

Investment opportunity stems from efforts of making rolling stock safer, faster and more efficient. The thrust on electrification is expected to give a spurt to electric locomotives, bringing down the fuel bill significantly, even as increasing investment in higher horse power locomotives will support longer rakes.

It is often pointed out that every rupee invested in ramping up railway infrastructure benefits the economy six times over. Therefore, after languishing for nearly 70 years, modernisation of the sector has been put on the fast track.

When the 60 winning cities (with proposals worth over Rs 1.31 lakh crore) become smart, it is expected to positively impact the lives of 72 crore urban population. While Rs 1.05 lakh crore will be spent on area-based development plans, Rs 26,141 crore will be spent on pan-city solutions in the next five years.

ABB has won an order from Alstom to supply 1600 traction transformers for 800 new electric freight locomotives in India.

With 28 years of experience in power transmission, distribution and generation, Dhananjay Ketkar is currently Chief Operating Officer at Egis India. An engineer and a post graduate in cost and management accounting, Ketkar started his career with NTPC in the power generation domain.

On June 17, 2015, the Centre approved the proposal to boost the country´s solar power capacity target under the National Solar Mission by five times, to achieve 100 GW by 2022

While all the pressure to build a railway network in India in the mid-nineteenth century came from London, it is well into the 21st century that pressures of a very different kind are at work in modern-day India.

This is all about connectivity and a country needs to have infrastructure in roads, railways, energy, power plants and being able to provide the necessary infrastructure that is needed, in the case of India, to achieve a good degree of success with the Make in India campaign.