OPINION
BY INDIAN INDUSTRIAL FEATURE NEHA KUMARI spending nations on construction in the world. We manufacture more than 250 million tons of cement and are only second to China. A recent report called "Global Construction 2020" estimates that India will be the third largest global construction market after China and USA. In order to improve the standard of living of the common man, one of the key challenges that India is facing today is to overcome the infrastructure bottlenecks. Consequently, the federal government announced the 11th five-year-plan which allocates 9% of the GDP to infrastructure projects. The National Planning Commission of India has estimated an allocation of $515 billion which is equivalent to Rs.23 trillion to infrastructure sectors over the next five years. This includes construction of roads, highways, airports, bridges, ports, railways as well as water supply and sanitation amongst few others. The 12th five-year-plan projects an investment of 10% of the national GDP into infrastructure which equates to a staggering $1 trillion or Rs.45 trillion.
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ecent studies and surveys have shown that sustainability legislation and initiatives will impact Indian industrial sectors, which includes power generation, construction, textile, financial and automobile industries the most. India's construction sector is assessed at approximately Rs.4000 billion.As a result of government spending, private investments as well as foreign direct investment, India is among the top ten
Companies say that regulatory requirements are now a more important factor driving the sustainability initiatives in the corporate world, while the competitive advantage provided by such initiatives are viewed as less important. The most important driver behind corporate initiatives is the business value provided by them, as cited by 29% of respondents. In a previous survey in 2008, 28% noted business value as a major driver. The textile industry has emerged as the most impacted sector due to one or more such regulations, followed by power generation, construction and real estate, chemical, automobile and pharmaceuticals among others. Apart from compliance requirements, regulatory initiatives will also lead to cost escalation as much as offer means for newer revenue streams for industries.The second driver was compliance with regulatory requirements (27%). In 2008, it was chosen by only 11% of those surveyed. The change, the report notes, is partially due to the US Environmental Protection Agency's mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting, along with the expectation that the US will eventually have formal carbon regulations. The third main driver was the competitive advantage, which was chosen by 33 % of those surveyed in 2008. One more factor that has to be taken care of is the finance schemes. These are found to be among the next most prevalent initiatives because of their concentration on three sectors - power generation, financial institutions and renewable technology. Schemes are
36 | September | SustaiNuance