New infrastructure finance secretariat to boost capacity, financing

The new framework is expected to be out by the end of this calendar year

During his first Union Budget in July 2014, former finance minister Arun Jaitley announced the setting up of an institution called 3P India, with an allocation of Rs 500 crore. The intention was to mainstream public-private partnerships (PPPs) in India. The plan was to bring together the capacities of the government and private sector to push PPP projects.

However, it never moved beyond the announcement stage. Now, that is — eight years later — something similar or, in fact, bigger has been set up.

The two infrastructure divisions of the finance ministry’s department of economic affairs have been moved out of North