Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said that the ministry has awarded works to the tune of ₹15 lakh crore, including spending ₹2 lakh crore in Andhra Pradesh. He participated, through video conference, as the guest of honour at the Indian Institute of Management-Visakhapatnam’s (IIM-V) two-day flagship annual business conclave ‘Vriddhi’, which concluded on Sunday.
Speaking on ‘the role of infrastructure development for realising India’s five-trillion-dollar economy goal’, Mr. Gadkari spoke on the Union government’s vision for the promotion of integrated infrastructure under ‘PM Gati Shakti national plan’. He said the thrust was on development of road infrastructure and allied highway initiatives like Multi-Modal Logistics Parks(MMLPs) and other infrastructure development.
Mr. Gadkari said that India’s current annual petroleum product imports stand at ₹8 lakh crore and it was estimated to reach the ₹25 lakh crore mark in the next five years. He underlined the need to concentrate on ethanol and other bio fuels. The Union government was working towards the development of a national highway network of 2 lakh km by 2025.
The Visakhapatnam-Raipur greenfield road corridor, being developed, would become a growth highway for the three States of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Besides cutting travel time, it would also spur socioeconomic growth in the region. As many as 35 MMLPs would be developed across the country, including one each in Anantapur and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. A detailed project report would be ready in the next few months for these parks, Mr. Gadkari said.
Gadkari emphasised on reduction of logistic costs below 10% from the existing 30% to 40% for making the retail market more competitive and boosting economic growth. With so many upcoming new alternative fuels such as ethanol, LNG, bio-CNG, electric, green hydrogen, the transport sector in India was standing at a critical juncture, he said.
The turnover of the automobile industry of the country, which currently stands at ₹7.5 lakh crore, was planned to be doubled within the next five years. He spoke on the need to take India from its present position of sixth largest economy in the world to the number one position.
He advised the students to convert problems into opportunities with commercially viable solutions and the need for application of knowledge and skillsets that MBA graduates possess, in contributing to the planning, implementation and management of infrastructure projects.
The event also witnessed a panel discussion on ‘Prioritising products or consumers’, which was moderated by Amit Shankar, Assistant Professor of Marketing, IIM-Visakhapatnam. The first speaker on the panel, Varun Jain (Associate Director-Marketing at Cipla) discussed the role of semantics in making a consumer product. Vipul Oberoi (Director Marketing at Dun and Bradstreet, India) emphasised the importance of understanding, articulating, anticipating, and then ultimately presenting the product to the consumer. Shobhit Mohan (V-P Marketing at PayU), another panel member, spoke on product priority.
