The Cabinet Committee of Infrastructure (CCI), on 1 March 2012, identified the sectors that should get infrastructure status.
The move emanated from the lack of consistency in definition of what constitutes infrastructure. The harmonised master list approved by the CCI has five main sectors and 29 infra subsectors. The five sectors include transport, energy, water sanitation, communication and social and commercial infrastructure. The infra tag allows certain benefits including access to easier borrowings overseas, ability to raise funds through tax-free bonds, tax concessions, and access to dedicated lenders such as IIFCL, and the debt funds. The new master list will serve as a guidepost for all the agencies responsible for supporting infrastructure in various ways. However, each agency will be free draw its own list of sub-sectors out of the master list, which it intends to support, with adequate justification for inclusion or exclusion.
Any fresh sector or a subsector will be included in the master list if it has six characteristics namely natural monopoly, high sunk costs and asset specificity, non-tradeability of output, non-rivalness in consumption, possibility of price exclusion, and presence of externalities.
Master List of Infrastructure Subsectors:
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Sl. No |
Category |
Infrastructure Subsector |
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1 |
Transport |
Roads and bridges |
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Ports |
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Inland Waterways |
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Airport |
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Railway Track, tunnels, viaducts, bridges1 |
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Urban Public Transport (except rolling stock in case of urban road transport) |
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2 |
Energy |
Electricity Generation |
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Electricity Transmission |
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Electricity Distribution |
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Oil pipelines |
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Oil/Gas/Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) storage facility2 |
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Gas pipelines3 |
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3 |
Water Sanitation |
Solid Waste Management |
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Water supply pipelines |
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Water treatment plants |
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Sewage collection, treatment and disposal system |
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Irrigation (dams, channels, embankments etc) |
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Storm Water Drainage System |
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4 |
Communication |
Telecommunication (fixed network)4 |
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Telecommunication towers |
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5 |
Social and Commercial Infrastructure |
Education Institutions (capital stock) |
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Hospitals (capital stock)5 |
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Three-star or higher category classified hotels located outside cities with population of more than one million |
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Common infrastructure for industrial parks, SEZ, tourism facilities and agriculture markets |
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Fertilizer (Capital investment) |
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Post harvest storage infrastructure for agriculture and horticultural produce including cold storage |
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Terminal markets |
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Soil-testing laboratories |
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Cold Chain6 |
Note:
1. Includes supporting terminal2. Includes strategic storage of crude oil
3. Includes city gas distribution network
4. Includes optic fibre/cable networks which provide broadband / internet
5. Includes Medical Colleges, Para Medical Training Institutes and Diagnostics Centres
6. Includes cold room facility for farm level pre-cooling, for preservation or storage of agriculture and allied produce, marine products and meat.