The world's sixth largest economy needs to buck up on the implementation of smart grid solutions, if it wants to ensure quality, 24 x 7 power to service the aspirations of both an expanding population and industry.

First the good news! The economy's doing well, the stock market's touching new peaks and Indians are flying like never before.

The Ministry of Urban Development gives the "Make in India" campaign a boost with the rapid expansion of metro rail projects.

The $1billion US-based engineering and construction management company, Louis Berger, has been active in India for over 20 years. The New Jersey-based corporation is engaged in a slewof projects, including bridges, tunnels, roads, highways, railways, and transit, aviation and smart cities.

The project is progressing well. Currently, we are operating North-South and East-West that span over 42.8 km with a ridership of more than four lakh commuters every day.

Currently, less than 3 per cent of India's 1.3 billion population flies and the Government of India, along with Airports Authority of India (AAI), is taking concrete steps to make flying affordable to more people in the nation.

The air travel boom in India has thrown up a new set of challenges before the country's aviation sector. The airport infrastructure needs to be ramped up on priority for the growth momentum to be sustained in the long term.

Amber Dubey, Partner and India Head of Aerospace & Defence, KPMG feels that a tough relook is required at the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Act, 2013, as it has made land acquisition for public infrastructure projects such as airports impossible.

The north-eastern region, with its huge energy potential — 50,000 MW, by some estimates — could soon become the “powerhouse” of India. Taking a small first step in this direction, it is expected to feed the rest of the country up to 1,100 MW by the end of this year, energy experts say.