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India will not achieve the $1-trillion infrastructure spend during its 12th Five-Year Plan, announced Gajendra Haldea, Advisor (Infra) to the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India, at the CW Leadership Summit held on November 14 in Delhi. He was only stating the obvious. Two years into the 12th Plan and the project pipeline is drying up, or is at a standstill. With three years to go, accelerating to 9-10 per cent GDP growth is a near impossibility. The plan envisages a 50 per cent contribution from the private sector. Given the acutely debt-burdened state of the private sector, anxiously clawing at CDR resuscitating measures, such a huge contribution can be ruled out. While everyone blames the government for the energy mess, I would lay equal blame on the private sector. The government has allocated 218 captive coal blocks with reserves of 49 billion tonne since 1993, of which 50 per cent have been bagged by private companies. The Ministry has cancelled the licences of 51 coal blocks in two years after reviews indicated lapse of development efforts by companies. While many would have invested and been affected by clearance hurdles, many others have leveraged the asset to their benefit and not developed the blocks. The year 2013-14 will see a serious deficit in infrastructure investment, which will have a telling impact on GDP growth. To add to the woes, vigilance and CBI officials have cast a pall of gloom over decision-making, with most bureaucrats hesitating from taking even routine decisions. However, there is a glimmer of hope. Anil Swarup, Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, and Head, Project Monitoring Group, elaborated upon the process followed by his team at the CW Leadership Summit; they have given all clearances to 128 projects worth Rs 4 lakh crore. These projects could get funded and move towards the implementation stage, which would manifest into growth in the following year. Finance availability has been made easier by easing norms for banks in relooking at debt owed by projects delayed due to clearance delays. Further, relaxation in FDI norms to boost investor sentiment has seen India emerge as the most attractive investment destination surpassing neighbouring China and the US, says an E&Y report. It goes on to say that when it comes to investments, the US, France and Japan have emerged as the top three investors likely to invest in India. While the roads sector, which provided much of the infra-related impetus, sagged to a low of awarding only 1,300 km of the targeted 9,000 km for 2013-14, aviation has taken off by clearing deals for Jet-Etihad and Tata-SIA. Top US companies are eager to invest in our aviation sectors various fields, from security to building new airports, with recent changes in the regulatory environment. Policy changes in easing aircraft acquisition and simultaneous enhancement of 80 per cent capacity for Indian carriers between the Gulf and South Asia will enhance air traffic. Given the delays in road construction, connectivity can be enhanced by creating an 'air corridorthat can connect small cities and towns using air taxis. Costs for such air corridors will be much lower than roads and will expedite development in these cities and towns. The air corridor plan can truly move our country faster into development. The PM has announced 100 small airports to meet the needs of 33 crore passengers by 2020. While this may mean doubling the number of airports currently, prioritising the air corridor will yield better GDP benefits for passenger traffic as road corridors would yield for goods traffic. If budgets are laid keeping this principle in mind, growth can be accelerated. And Mukesh Ambani's essay, Making the Next Leap in McKinsey's book Reimagining India: Unlocking the Potential of Asias Next Superpower would ring true. Happy New Year!