Episode 39: India’s Infrastructure Evolution: Unlocking Private Capital at Scale

Speaker A: Foreign.

Speaker B: Hello, and welcome to the Talking Global Infrastructure Podcast. I'm Harvey Chandler, Director of Policy and Public affairs at the Global Infrastructure Investor association, the global voice of infrastructure investors and advisors to the sector. Now, today, we're turning our focus to India, one of the most dynamic and ambitious markets for infrastructure development in the world. Across India, we're seeing rapid urbanization. We have industrial growth and major public and private support. We're reshaping everything from transport and energy networks to digital connectivity. The scale is vast, the pace in many areas is fast, uh, and the opportunity really is drawing global attention. Now in this podcast, we'll be covering the role private capital is currently playing, the frameworks in place to further crowd in capital and where that capital is likely to flow in terms of emerging sector opportunities. To take us on this journey, I'm joined by two great guests bringing investment and legal perspectives, respectively. Subahu Chaudhya from EAA Alternatives, one of India's leading alternative asset managers. And Megha Arora from CMS Indust Law, an Indian law firm, part of cms. Thank you both for being with me today. Let's kick off, shall we, by setting the scene and looking at the role of private capital. Subahu, turning to you first, how does India know really compare today as a destination for private infrastructure investment versus where it was, say, 10 or 15 years ago?

Speaker C: That's a great question to start with. So if you look at the journey of Indian infrastructure and rather than 10 years, I will talk about 25 years. Uh, started, uh, in late 90s, right? And uh, I call it as uh, phase one. And that phase was a learning phase for India. The first uh, highway project in India was awarded in 1997-98. Uh, and now we have completed almost 25 plus years of the journey. So first 10 years till 2010, I call it as a learning phase where private capital was coming into investments largely led by domestic corporates. Uh, we're learning in terms of how the concession agreements, how the regulation, how the commercial framework needs to be evolved. And then came the next phase, which I call it as from 201012 to 2018. And that phase, I call it a stabilization phase. And that phase is when most of the global managers started coming into India. So you look at likes of Brookfield, Blackstone, KKR, I Squared Capital, CPPIB, Ontario, teachers, GIC, all the global managers started act as, started coming into India in that phase, right from 2010, 1112 to 2018, set up shop in India, invested in India. And then came the phase which is, I call it as current phase, which is phase three, which is a much more evolved phase. So apart from investing now, uh, India has got a track record of exits which is giving money back to the investors. Right. So 2017, 18, uh, there is infrastructure trust and REITs which started in India, which is basically listing the infrastructure assets as REITs or real estate as REITs. And that market is now $100 billion in just about eight years. Just to give you a context, Japan started in 2000 and Japan is 100 billion. Japan took 25 years to reach 100 billion dollar mark. India is already there in eight years. And that has paved a uh, way of exit and the liquidity. And therefore many of these funds have experienced exit from India which is where it has created the full life cycle completion of investments to asset management to exit and successfully generating returns for the investors. So that's where India stands today from a global context. Uh, India is perhaps now a very few market where size and scale exist for infrastructure, where you can have long term contracts or concessions. Today it is very, very difficult to find uh, 20, 25 year, 35 year contracted cash flows or concessions in developed market like Europe and US which used to be available about 10 years back. But those market has evolved to become a more open market. India still remains the traditional infrastructure market which is having those long term contracted cash flows with very, very strong counterparties. Which gives a lot of comfort to pension funds and insurance companies to look at that interesting market in India. That's how the market has been evolving and it has now built up a great track record.

Speaker B: Fantastic. I really like uh, the way in which you discuss those three phases and really that opportunity that now comes through this third phase. Uh, as you see it, you talk there around um, some of the models that have started to be introduced. So we've talked about things like uh, Invit, the Infrastructure Investment Trust, REITs now being used uh, more widely uh, within the market. And I know perhaps we'll go on to talk about uh, EAA alternatives owner, uh, INVIT shortly. Um, but a really kind of interesting take there. You know you talk about that, that move through the phases. Um, and one of the things is, you know we know that investors are not this kind of homogeneous blob. They will have their own uh, risk appetite, they all have their own strategies, um, and approach to investing across markets and across sectors. So is there any, you know, are there any misconceptions um, about India that we should really address straight off the bat?

Speaker C: Absolutely. It's a, it's a Again a very very important question. In fact I was in uh, in Europe just about a couple of weeks back making a presentation on Indian infrastructure. And I think I started with saying that let's take the elephant out of the room which is talk about what is the history in people's mind investors who came and invested in India pre2010. So one of the key questions is does India have enough liquidity to provide for exit. We have now got that track record. The currency is again a big question. But if you look at currency impact which is INR USD and look at since from 2010 to 2025 which is about 15 years and um, put that in a five year block. So 2010 to 15 India had a 7% currency depreciation. 15 to 20 it came down to about 4% and 20 to 25 it has been 2.6%. And one of the key things what happened in India is, and this is again another misconception about India saying that does it make dollar returns and what kind of dollar return I should be expecting out of this. So India has this tendency because we do import a lot. We are an importing country. Whenever any global situation arises, Indian currency does suffer. But then it is followed by a very long term either a stable regime or an appreciation which happens. So if you look at the chart for the last 15 years you will find a sudden depreciation followed by a very stable one or sometime an appreciation in the currency which happened. What has also changed in India is that India used to not only import goods, which is energy, which is manufacturing goods, but also used to import a lot of capital. And that capital import has reduced in India with the Indian saving, the domestic saving has gone up. So India is where uh, US wants is in 8,788, right? Broadly speaking around the same time US was $4 trillion economy. India's $4 trillion average age of population of US was the same. Right. Uh 28, 29 years. Where is India today? And therefore directionally we will be at that level. India's pension and insurance is $1 trillion AUM now which is growing at a very very good pace. And the domestic capital is also increasing. And that is why we see uh, the Indian equity market being more stable despite foreign investors have been selling out of India over the last few years because of the global uncertainty and stable and stability. And that has changed in India. That has changed which is dependence on this short term capital which used to come. So India has been now getting locked of FDIs, uh, which are long term Patient capital. It has got its own domestic capital while we still have imports. So we'll see sudden depreciation in the currency the way it has just happened over the last 12 months. But historically what we have seen is that it is followed by a long stable regime of currency or an appreciation which happens. So that is the second misconception around currency. The third one which is there in India, is the regulatory framework stable or it is dependent on which government is there. And here I will give an example of the first highway project which I spoke about got awarded in 1998. Infrastructure has seen a um, regime of various governments which have come in over the last 30 years. And we have seen every time the policy, the uh, regulatory framework has only got improved. We have learned over a period of long term, uh, over a very, very long period. And it is not dependent, in my view, it is not dependent on which government uh, comes in and which authority works because that is structural in India. Yes, A good government, a good governance, expedite it, make it faster. Otherwise it is moving forward with a slow pace. And that is another misconception about India. Whether it is uh, uh, going to stay for long term or not really good.

Speaker B: I think that quite neatly gives us our moment to bring MEGA into the conversation. Now Mega, you work a lot across uh, a lot of these deals, these transactions, looking a lot of the regulation, the policy that ultimately enables all of this private capital to come in. I was privileged enough to come over to Delhi earlier this year and learning about the capital markets and really the kind of the options available to drive forward many of these projects and these existing investments. From your perspective, how is that policy, that regulatory landscape shifting to attract more investment, more private capital, more institutional capital into Indian infrastructure.

Speaker A: Thank you, Harvey. And I think Shubhayu just set the context very well because um, the Indian, uh, legal and regulatory regime in the infrastructure sector, uh, it is, you know, reaching a stage of reliability, bankability and scalability. Uh, and I think there are various pillars that it rests on and I will just touch upon them briefly. First is the national monetization Pipeline. And we are seeing uh, the NMP phase two. But when we look at NMP phase one, which was from 2022-25 with a four year trajectory, we have achieved almost 90% of our 6 trillion target. 6 trillion Indian rupee target. And now uh, the finance minister has recently announced NMP Phase 2 under which we are talking about roughly uh, 16.72 trillion Indian rupees worth of pipeline. I mean the pipeline projects and out of which approximately 5.8 trillion is earmarked towards private investment. So just the scale of you know uh, the numbers that we are talking about, um, and these are all brownfield assets, these are all assets which are de risked and uh, the government is looking at monetizing this to create you know out of the investment to create fresh assets so to reduce the burden on the government exchequer. And the models of funding are dependent upon the sector. So it could either be PPP concessions, it could be invits, it could be direct privatization of PSUs. Um and I think the scale of it is just phenomenal as to what India has witnessed in the past couple of years and is going to witness in the next few years till about 2030. I think the second uh, pillar which gives regulatory certainty is the energy market. Currently both in the renewable sector sector as well as in the hydrocarbon sector. So India achieved 50% of its installed capacity from non fossil fuels in 2025. This was five years ahead of its uh, scheduled target date of 2030 to meet its Paris commitments. Um and then in December 2025 the government uh, you know came up with the Shanti Act. It is uh, a regulatory, it is a uh, you know a great phenomena when it comes to ah, privatization of the nuclear sector in India. And for the first time the nuclear sector will be opened up to private participation and the FDI policy will also be amended to allow 49 investment into the sector it was earlier prohibited. Um there is a lot of uh, comfort around supplier liability etc which has been brought about by the new Shanti Act. And this will incentivize the suppliers who were earlier, you know not very confident to invest in the Indian market uh, from a supplier liability point of view um, that should I think open up as well.

Speaker B: Thanks for that Meg. I think something you bring up there is quite interesting actually because you talk about the, the pipeline and you talk about uh, you know the real push there and I think if anyone hasn't read it yet I'll our research uh, lead Vlad did a very good piece on how India sees itself in the region and has one of the most institutionalized medium term infrastructure pipelines uh in that region, the national infrastructure pipeline. You talked about the monetization pipeline there too. Um, giving that kind of consolidated multi sector view across renewables and other areas in the kind of the project sequencing both at the central and state level. Um so it's really kind of an interesting comparator for many of the other markets that our listeners uh, are focused on. I just Wondered mega maybe you could kind of pick up on you know that between the union, between the central government level but also the state government level. How do they coordinate on this pipeline, you know really to create those investment opportunities. Thinking about you know investors always want that simplicity, want that kind of concierge, uh service that just allows them to deploy capital and do uh, it at the lowest risk possible. Uh obviously with a good risk return ratio.

Speaker A: So center and state uh, cooperation is very important for infrastructure projects specifically because the way our constitution uh, and the distribution of powers between the center and the state, state governments typically handle land and land is one of the most important aspects of an infrastructure project. Whereas you know uh, the central government is mostly, mostly in charge with large scale projects. Um, so uh, the, the cooperation becomes extremely important. And we have government programs such as the PM Gati Shakti Plan etc which are excellent examples of center state coordination. And just to give you you know, a bit of background about how our constitution the, the powers are separated. It is. We have a central list where the center has the power to legislate. We have the state list, whether state has the power to legislate and then we have the concurrent list where both the center states have the power to legislate. So for example electricity falls under the concurrent list. But uh, you know, national highways etc are part of the state list. And then you have the state highways, waterways etc. Which are. And land which is part of the state list. So the distribution of power is such that cooperation between you know the center and state becomes extremely, extremely important. And we are seeing great examples of it. The new, the national monetization pipeline, the phase one and the phase two and other government programs. Then we have you know, uh, agencies such as the Niti Aayog, they act like an umbrella agency where they take views of both the center as well as the state while formulating they're the think tank of the Indian government. So um, state participation in Niti Aayog is you know very, very crucial.

Speaker C: Yeah. What has happened uh, in India is over a period of time there has been uh, the regulatory. So let's just think about the regulations and policy first. Uh, as an example of electricity, there is a state regulatory commission and there is a central regulatory commission. Right. But lot of policy framework, uh, works in a very harmonized manner between the two. Right. So there is one electricity act which is passed for the whole country and there are two uh, regulatory commission but they work very together. In fact now the central regulatory commission has a seat on the board of state regulatory commission to ensure that that is more proper coordination. I think Megha just talked about the land part and what has happened is the center and state has worked very closely together. To give you an example for a highway construction, when a project is awarded it needs to have 80% land already acquired by the National Highway Authority of India before it is bid out. Which basically means that if it is availability based road, if you complete that much portion, you start getting paid revenue. So you don't need to wait for revenue to complete the balance land acquisition. You start getting generating revenue out of that project. Uh, India has come up with this concept called Solar park which is very unique. Whenever I go globally and talk about it, people say that this is quite unique where the government decided both the center and the state that we have lot of land and we'll convert that into mega solar parks. Do the land development have uh, the connectivity, build out water and get the developers to come and bid for the project which will reduce the execution timeline. So the way uh, the governments have worked together between center and state is they have tried addressing issues which were delaying construction in India. Today you can have a 400, 500 megawatt of solar plant in India becoming operational within 12 to 18 months from the start of construction. Right? We are doing 20 gigawatts in a year now or 20 gigawatt plus in a year. We are about, let's say 10 years back we used to do 1 gigawatt a year and therefore the execution has improved significantly. And the pipeline has also come about.

Speaker B: Right?

Speaker C: So we have two kind of pipeline. One is called as buying out core assets which is in our view that market is about $500 billion market which is both monetization by the government which they have taken a lot of input from the Australian monetization schemes. Australia, the government does monetization and there are incentive programs around that and they borrowed a lot of from there when NMP1 was formed and the working committed to that representation uh, from those markets as well. Uh, so the government is doing monetization, the private sector is also monetizing the assets. So India is a very unique market where we have a lot of construction companies, we have a lot of small mid sized developers, they can't hold assets on their balance sheet so they have to recycle capital, they have to build assets, sell assets, recycle capital that create a large core market in India. And then on the other side we have what is called as NIP National Investment pipeline or national infrastructure pipeline. And that is one and a half trillion dollar plan for the next five years. And we expect almost $600 billion to come from private sector. The rest will come from government. So we have a value add opportunity in India which is building out renewable power, building out transmission line, putting up storage projects, highways, logistic corridors and so on, so forth. And we have a core market in India which is buying out these operating assets. So depending upon how the uh, investor like us look at it, we have strategies on both. Right. So risk return is completely different and you go forward and does that execution. So there is enough pipeline of project which is there. The key risk in India is to identify good quality projects with highly predictable cash flows. Because what happens many times is that the market looks very good and then investor comes and invest uh across the asset classes. But the key is to look at risk framework or say okay, what is the quality of the project from where the cash flows are coming in, who is my counterparty with whom the contact or concern and how is the regulatory and commercial framework. And that becomes a key valuation metrics for investors to look at it. Because there are multiple emerging sectors in India which is yet to build up track record.

Speaker B: You've covered quite a few sectors there. I think the points around that de Risking uh, the opportunity looking through that pipeline and actually saying what is a bankable project or what is an existing asset that you're know looking to go in and um, and invest in and to, to to you know, build into your strategy. Are there certain, you know when we think about different markets, we do a lot of work in the US and, and, and Europe and, and Australia and other markets too. You know, for you, for eaa, you know, how do you think about things like highways for example where you've got your, your invitation. Uh, um. Are there other sectors, sub sectors where you see a real kind of opportunity coming through?

Speaker C: So we are seeing opportunity across various kind of infrastructure project. And as, as I think uh highlighted on this conversation is that we look at it from a risk return perspective. So let me give an example of you. India has got ropeway projects, right? Again nhi which is National Highway Authority of India is uh a is the counterparty with whom concession agreement assigned. It is largely the same concession as highways. It is also moving people. It's also mobility. You have both availability based and you have toll based. India has also got what is called as hybrid annuity on water treatment products where you have to treat the water but you get paid a fixed amount every six months. Some of them are also funded by uh, the multilateral institutions from an annuity payment perspective. India is also uh, going to come up with, and the discussions have been ongoing on logistics, on freight terminals. So there are multiple sectors which are coming up, uh, apart from highways and hence I call it as transport is a theme in India. It is backed by multiple sector. Because India is a consumption economy. Goods and people have to move, whether it is airport, whether it is railway infrastructure, whether it's a highway infrastructure or roof infrastructure. We need that infrastructure for mobility, for people and goods to mobile. India is a large market on energy consumption. Just to give you a color on that, uh, India's electricity consumption grows by 7.5%. If you look at, on an annual consumption in an incremental basis, uh, it is one of the largest market in the world on annual consumption growth on a lower basis, it's a pretty large market and it creates a lot of opportunities. So there is sectors which are coming up, uh, there is also food, uh, storage, where Food Corporation of India is a counterparty. Anything which is to do with goods mobility. Energy digitization data centers is coming up big way in India. Optical fiber cables. So there are a lot of emerging sectors in India and some of them have built track record now for last 7, 8, 9 years for investors to look at it in a very attractive manner. Since you talked about example of Europe or U.S. uh, for that matter, India is a very, very unique model on some of these concessions. So let me just give you a color on that. The toll road in India, while the concession is awarded for 20 years, but it has a target revenue number mentioned in the new ToT model. It has a target revenue number which is tested twice during the concession period. Which means your concession from 20 years can go up if the target revenue falls by a certain percentage or can be reduced. And there is a range of that concession period. So what government said is okay, India is an emerging market. You don't want to take the growth risk, Let me provide you a hedge against that, let me mitigate that risk. Renewables for that matter. In, uh, about 10 years back, there used to be a lot of noise around certain distribution company not making payment on time. So what India does is they created sici, Solar Energy Corporation of India, ntbc, other central government entities. And they said they will procure the power and they will give it to state. Now the payment comes on time. Sometimes they actually take rebate, they make payment before due date. So every time there has been a challenge in India, Indian authorities, Indian regulators have listened to it and have rectified and evolved. It um, very classical example. I will give it to you. I was chatting with someone that what happened during COVID in the US there was no vehicles on the road. Now that is not classified as force measure in that country. In India when the lockdown happened it was classified as force measure. Which means the highway operators were allowed to extend that period in the concession and they were de risk because the government and authorities were acknowledging the fact that that is beyond your control. And I think those are the factors in which, why the concession agreements in India and the contracts are actually much better placed compared to many of the developed markets and are uh, more favorable to investors and other uh, asset owners.

Speaker B: You bring some interesting examples up there. Megal, I don't know as well you're looking at a lot of these transactions on a day to day basis. Is there anything else that um, Subuhu has given us some good examples there in terms of how those concessions have been extended, um, those differences with other markets and how they've really kind of mitigated some of those concerns. Is there anything else that you think India has a kind of competitive edge on or is pioneering certain uh, ways of supporting developers and investors?

Speaker A: I think Shubhao you has touched upon many of the aspects. For example when our distribution licenses in the power sector they were not paying. Uh we had the late payment surcharge rules which came about and there was a surcharge on late payments. And we are seeing that the, the payment cycle is improving. The PPAs are becoming more bankable. Uh we are also seeing you know over the counter uh, transactions such as virtual power purchase agreements being recognized, carbon um, trading. Um, see the CCTS scheme is being operationalized. Um so there is a lot of, you know apart from the traditional infrastructure assets there are certain new market based mechanisms in the energy sector which are very exciting and I think there is, you know this is, the investors are going to be looking forward to this. Um, apart from that, you know data centers was touched upon. So in our budget, the 2026 in fact it positions India as a global AI hub. And there were some tax holidays which were provided till up to 2027, 2047, a 21 year tax holiday. So I think these are some of the very interesting facets which is making India very lucrative to private investments at the moment.

Speaker B: For that I want to take us on. You mentioned PPPs and um, power purchase agreements and how they're being recognized. I think as well we've touched on very briefly on invits, the infrastructure investment trusts These means, these uh, in financing models. Maybe could one of you jump in and just provide us a bit of an overview in terms of how these are being adapted? Have we seen, you know we talked about on the invit side, certainly when I was over in Delhi there was a lot of talk about how this has really been a uh, useful means of getting more capital into infrastructure, albeit in a slightly different way as people may be used to in other markets. How is that support, that financing tool, support developing in the market?

Speaker C: So I will say that not just financing tools, so I will define invids in a very different way is that infrastructure assets require a certain set of capital when it is being constructed because the risk is very different. It requires a certain set of capital where the return expectation is lower, when it is updating, it has started commissioning and it started generating revenue and cash flows. And when it is m mature then it requires a certain set of capital where the return expectation further comes down because the uh, asset is more stable, more mature and now yielding assets. And that is where invits came about the whole idea around infrastructure trust and have been involved in that since the start. Uh, listed one of the first invits in India. But that is where the whole concept started of saying how can we channelize the form of capital which otherwise is not coming into the industry, which is Indian pension capital, Indian insurance capital, Indian retail capital, family office, H and I. How can you channelize that capital into an asset class which otherwise is hard asset and illiquid? So I call it as this financialization of infrastructure assets. Companies get financialized from equities. The infrastructure asset got financialized through invids. You have a large asset base, you are getting cash flow generation out of it. Investors can decide when to enter, how much to invest, when to exit. And it has become more democratized in that sense and financialized for adding new set of investors who can come in and participate. It also gives the uh, path for many of the foreign investors. They want to invest in India, they want to test India. Many times they come into India by saying, let me start investing in India in the liquid market or the listed market, gain that experience and then go towards the private market. So this will also enhance uh, some of the investors uh, ability to invest in Indian infrastructure through the listed market and later develop their familiarization, their understanding of Indian infrastructure and move to the private market. So I call it as this is actually a path breaking for channelizing capital. It's not only just financing infrastructure assets, but this is going to create A whole ecosystem around this. And I'll take an example of us, they started in 1960s REITs and then came MLPs master limited partnerships. It started sometime in 90s and then came yield goes US has been one of the market which has pioneered these products over a long period of time and basically financializing these assets class, not just infrastructure, but real estate, even other kind of qualified asset class and deepen that market by participation from various kind of investors. India has just started the journey.

Speaker A: I think it's democratization of large infrastructure projects. It's a very innovative model which has been in India. India has tested this since 2017. And um, you know we have had great success in the road sector, in the renewable energy sector, uh, and specifically the power transmission sector. So I think these sectors have been the beneficiaries of invits. And uh, with the NMP 2.0 we see that, you know, there would be a lot of other invits coming into, you know, the market.

Speaker B: Fantastic. So we've covered um, a lot of ground there. We've covered the kind of the outlook, the misconceptions. I think we had a good kind of uh, walk through there as well. But also on the financing side in terms of those sector opportunities too. So a really good kind of holistic look at the markets that exist today, um, and certainly that role for private capital and how it fits in alongside uh, public capital and the support and the frame frameworks, ah, that really make up India's infrastructure landscape. Before we close off, I really want to just kind of understand from you, you know, if you had to highlight one real key takeaway that you said. Anyone that's listening to this podcast, um, that is considering India as a, as a destination for that capital, they must know this and they must look uh, forward to this um, over the next kind of year or two. Let's say, uh, what would be the thing that you would be saying to them?

Speaker C: Yes, maybe I'll go, uh, and this is what I say when I travel globally to meet investors. And I basically said what has been the learning in India now there is clearly defined don'ts. So what investors should know, what should not be done. And that is very, very important when they come to India. So what should not be done is minority stakes have not worked well in India in infrastructure. Second uh, is look at alignment of the team and the platform to the investors return outcome. And that is very, very important track record of the team, whether they have actually completed the full cycle of investments which is from investing to Asset management to exit. And that is a very, very important factor. The last but not the least, start with India with the lowest risk curve. Build up experience, build up expertise, and then you can always move up in the risk chain because I will recommend to every investor that don't get carried away with higher returns. Look at risk in India, evaluate it carefully. Start with small tickets, maybe with the lowest risk spectrum, and then move up in the value chain. Because if you are coming to India, you will be coming for a long term. You're not going to. You will not like accidents to happen in the initial period. And hence, uh, the suggestion and the key takeaway will be look at risk evaluation carefully. Look at the team credibility and the track record very carefully. And alignment,

Speaker B: Track record alignment, risk evaluation over just higher returns. Um, clear, clear message there, Meghan. And from you, what, what would you be saying?

Speaker A: So I think, uh, the clear message for me is that India is not just about an aim, it is about execution. And we can see the scale of projects that are being executed as of now, the project pipeline, and there is, you know, uh, regulatory certainty and ease of doing business, which is sure, you know, slowly but surely coming into India. So I think this is the destination. Uh, but one has to just evaluate the risks and, uh, you know, uh, invest.

Speaker B: One other, um, area on the misconceptions that I know we've discussed before is around, around governance. Um, you know, what is it about governance where there is that misconception?

Speaker C: So, uh, historically the projects in India used to get awarded by allocation or feed in tariff, which means then you are interacting with the authority, uh, on a in person basis. But what has changed in India over the last 10, 15 years is everything is electronic. Now. India has gone up significantly on digitization. So for giving an example, the renewable projects in India are now done through electronically done reverse bidding. So everyone on the screen can bid for the project. You don't know the name. When the reverse bidding is over, then the winner's name will get displayed, which is basically basis tariff in highways, in transmission. Again, you have to submit the bid. Everyone can submit the bid. It will get opened on the same day. And it's completely transparent in terms of who wins the project. Uh, toll collection in India is almost 97, 98% done through digital means. So there is no cash collection, which happens. And therefore the level of governance on award, of project, on payment related to that project or collection has significantly gone up in India as compared to, uh, let's say 15 years back.

Speaker B: Megha, we heard from Subhu earlier in terms of some of the opportunities he's seeing across sectors. Um, from you, I'd really like to know, what should the industry watch most closely over the next two to three years? Um, from your standpoint, the operationalization of

Speaker A: the carbon markets and how they're taking off in India is something to really look forward to. Uh, and, uh, the opening up of the nuclear sector, foreign investments into the nuclear sector, and the pipeline of projects created by NMP2. So these are the three things I think one should really look forward to in the coming years.

Speaker B: Well, we've gone through a lot of different areas there, uh, in the Indian market, uh, and really got an expert's view in terms of the opportunities, uh, the challenges, certainly, uh, but also those misconceptions and really where that pipeline is holding India strong. Uh, we also heard about, uh, some of the key takeaways and also the things that investors should be looking out for in the next two to three years. Uh, so with that, I'd like to thank ever so much to Mega and to Subar, who to being with us today on the Talking Global Infrastructure podcast. Uh, do join us next time, uh, and we look forward to seeing you soon.