AIIB Meeting in Mumbai

AIIB Meeting in Mumbai

On Tuesday, India became the third country after China and Korea to host the annual summit of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). This summit is particularly important as it once again highlights the fact that the country’s infrastructural requirements are too large to be financed by the public sector (especially of housing and transport) and the private sector needs to step in.

A major infrastructure project which hopes to be funded by the AIIB’s investments is the RRTS - Rapid Regional Transport systems (first of its kind - 180 km speed) which would cover the regions of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. The summit also put the spotlight on India’s position on One Belt, One Road imitative where the country has traditionally been opposed to. Rather, India wants to work on, with the help of the AIIB, the South Asian Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) road connectivity program, the Great Asian Highway and the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), the ambitious multi-modal transportation project involving Iran, Russia and India. All of these are multi billion dollar funding requirement and that is why AIIB meet in India, so that Prime Minister Modi can directly appeal to potential investors.