'India needs consistent infra push for double-digit growth'

New Delhi: To achieve double-digit growth, India would require consistent infrastructure push and development all the way up to 2050, Yes Bank CEO and Managing Director Rana Kapoor has said. "India is a 9-10 per cent economic growth story, and this can be actualised with the current government's vision and action oriented approach, as seen since coming to power," he said at HT Leadership Summit here.

The current atmospherics are fantastic and very positive and the government's moves have started transforming the economic landscape to attract more big ticket investments, he added. "What we have seen from the government so far are however, 'baby steps' in the right direction. If I were to give an analogy, I would say we are moving from first gear to second gear given the immense opportunity that lies ahead of us as a nation," he said.

The new government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May. PSU banks, given their pre-eminence in the economy with over 70 per cent market share, need to be a lot more efficient and creative, said the chief of the private sector lender. "We also require a lot more streamlined credit risk management and sectoral focus in the PSU banks, given that they have extraordinary leadership and expertise," he said.

"Even so, there are key constraints to the PPP model, especially as far as the quality of bank funding is concerned, which is a major determinant of the eventual success of infrastructure development," he said. Kapoor said there is a definite need to have more project finance institutions in the country, as the three largest project finance companies have now turned into retail banks. "One of the biggest issues is that a number of banks and institutions are over-leveraged in certain sectors," he added.