Adani case brings back the question of infrastructure financing in India

The projects need cash, and Adani could well face serious shortfalls. Whether the govt bails them out by giving money or takes them over is a billion-dollar question

It's been about two weeks since US-based short seller Hindenburg Research said in its report that Adani Enterprises had been manipulating its stock valuations. We can only guess why it did so, if at all it did.

Immediate issues aside, this episode has once again raised a 25-year-old question dating from when India first started exploring private investment in infrastructure: should infrastructure be built with taxpayers' money or risk capital?

The question keeps coming up because governments want to spend more on welfare but also need to build infrastructure. That's how the idea of roping in the private sector, which