HUMAN PLAY-NET

Robust infrastructure is a pre-requisite for national development, economic growth and improving the lives of citizens. That being the reason, creation and expansion of infrastructure, like roads and highways, railways network, ports and logistics, and waste management mechanism, has always been at the centre of economic activities. However, following the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns slowed down the construction activities for various reasons, including shortage of workforce, lack of demand and of course shrinking of funds availability, among others. It was only following various timely interventions from the government that the economic activities started picking up as the pandemic went on the wane. But, in the wake of the emergence of Omicron variant of Covid towards 2021-end and possibilities of more such variants impacting various businesses in the days ahead, infrastructure sector players look forward to more provisions for them in the Union Budget 2022. ...

2 020 was a year of trials and tribulations for the real estate sector, as the pandemic-induced lockdown forced the construction activities to near halt. But, with timely government interventions post the pandemic pause, the sector started looking up, witnessing a revival in the home-buying sentiments. However, with predictions of nearly 35 per cent of the Indian population moving to urban areas by 2030, there is a need for creating more and more urban dwellings, with special focus on affordable housing. In this backdrop,  ET Infra  talked to a number of real estate developers, proptech providers and construction equipment makers to understand the issues facing them as well as the expectations from the upcoming Union Budget 2022-23. Urban sector development would continue to remain one of the major focus areas in the Budget, felt  Debashish Biswas , Partner, Deloitte India. Budgetary allocations are expected to be made for strengthening core urban infrastructure like hous...

The on set of Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent economic slowdown had its negative impact on almost every sector, and construction equipment (CE) industry was no exception. Despite the government push for infrastructure development even during the pandemic, the growth momentum of the CE industry – which recorded a turnover of $6.5 billion in 2020 – was hampered due to the slowdown in construction activities, both in real estate and road sector. However, much to the relief of the CE manufacturers, resumption of economic activities post the second Covid wave saw this sector posting an impressive 47% growth in the second quarter of the current financial year, according to  Dimitrov Krishnan , President of Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers' Association (ICEMA) and Managing Director, Volvo CE India Pvt Ltd. In an interaction with  ET Infra , Krishnan reflects on the industry scenario in the wake of the pandemic outbreak and expresses hope that by the close of this fisc...