India is known by its highways. Roads andnational highways denotes an important route in a system of roads, railwaylines and water ways for the country. The increasing domestic supply necessitatesdemands the presence of a good transport infrastructure.India through road-ways carry ~65% of its freight,which is growing rapidly. During the fiscal FY18 the government has approved thebiggest highway construction plan so far in the country, to developapproximately 83,677 km of roads at an investment of Rs 6.92 lakh crore by 2022aimed at pushing economic activity. · An allocation of INR 64,900 crore to speed up thecreation and expansion of highways, in addition to an investment of INR 27,000crore (along with the state governments) on rural roads is aimed at improvingfirst and last mile transport and providing seamless connectivity. The pace ofconstruction of rural roads has increased to 130 km per day from 73 km per dayin 2016–17 · The government allocated INR 131,000 crore towards thecapital expenditure for the railways, of which INR 55,000 crore would becontributed by the central government, while the rest is expected to come frommarket borrowings, internal generation and PPP Express industry in India, a fast-growingindustry segment.
In India, it has come a long way from its origin in late1990s to the modern form. Since then industry has invested in informationtechnology, set up good processes and proprietary systems capable for handlinglarge volumes. Current express distribution market is valued at Rs. 17500billion, which is further broadly distributed of documents and non-documentssegments. With the economic uptick there will be increasingdemand in auto, consumer products, durables and e-commerce market which willrequire good road logistics and network connectivity.
Heavy investment inroadways, highways and new projects in process would give a swifttransportation facility. E-way bill coming in February of this year woulddecrease the time requirement from one sorting centre to another. The total outlay for transport infrastructure hasincreased by about 10 per cent to INR 2.4 lakh crore in FY18/7, representing acontinuity in the advancing infrastructure investments in the sector. Ensuringfull utilisation of the proposed outlay and a selection of high qualityprojects for investments can help maximise benefit realisation.
