Global credit rating agency, Moody’s Investors Services in its latest report titled ‘Infrastructure - India: Highway PPPs gaining momentum, supported by government initiatives’ has said that India’s increasing use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in highway sector supports private infrastructure investment. It pointed out that private investment in highway projects had been falling in recent years, amid issues such as slow project approvals and cost overruns, but the government’s introduction of the hybrid annuity model (HAM) in 2016-as a variation of PPPs-has triggered new investment inflows.
According to the report, other sectors such as the port, shipping and rail sectors, have also started looking at improving the PPP framework in order to attract private investment to fund India's substantial infrastructure needs. It explained that the HAM model adopted in India’s highways sector, relative to more traditional PPPs, rebalances certain project risks between the public and private sectors. In addition, it said that the government provides funding during the construction phase, thus addressing some of the key concerns of the earlier model. Further, it indicated that the HAM model has triggered a significant increase in projects awarded, with HAM projects accounting for around 46% of total awards in terms of highway length and 63% in terms of total value in the 12 months to March 2018.
Moody’s has stated that recently, the government has implemented measures in an attempt to attract private investment for India's vast infrastructure needs, including in the port and rail sectors. It also noted that the improving credit profiles of infrastructure developers is increasing their capacity to participate in PPP projects. However, it said that their access to funding remains a key concern, with banks constrained by sector-specific exposure limits and existing stressed assets in their infrastructure portfolios.
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