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New Business Opportunities: Infrastructure and Smart Cities

Infrastructure and Smart Cities Opportunity Landscape

Infrastructure

Market Overview and Growth Potential

India’s infrastructure and smart cities sector is experiencing rapid growth due to increased urbanization and government-backed initiatives. The Union Budget 2025-26 has emphasized:

  • Urban development and smart city projects
  • Public-private partnerships (PPP) in infrastructure
  • Expansion of metro rail, highways, and digital connectivity
Key Market Indicators:
  • India’s infrastructure sector projected to reach $1.4 trillion by 2030
  • 100 smart cities under the Smart Cities Mission
  • Capital expenditure allocation of ₹11.2 lakh crore in Budget 2025-26
  • Faster approvals for real estate & infrastructure projects

Government Policies and Budgetary Support

Budget 2025-26 Incentives:
  • ₹1.2 lakh crore allocated for urban infrastructure projects
  • Viability gap funding for PPP-based smart city projects
  • Faster land acquisition & single-window clearances
  • Tax incentives & subsidies for green infrastructure

Key Challenges and Risks

  • High capital costs and long gestation periods
  • Land acquisition and regulatory hurdles
  • Public adoption of smart infrastructure solutions
  • Need for skilled labor in urban development and digital integration

Implementation Roadmap

Short-Term (0-2 Years)
  • Identify high-growth urban centers for infrastructure investment
  • Establish PPPs for metro, road, and smart utilities projects
  • Implement pilot smart city projects with IoT & AI integration
Medium-Term (2-5 Years)
  • Expand metro, expressway, and sustainable housing projects
  • Scale up digital infrastructure with 5G, smart grids, and water management
  • Promote private investment through urban redevelopment policies
Long-Term (5+ Years)
  • Develop interconnected smart city networks across regions
  • Implement fully autonomous public transportation systems
  • Strengthen global positioning in sustainable urbanization & real estate

Conclusion

Infrastructure and smart city development in India presents high-growth, long-term investment opportunities with strong government backing. Businesses and investors can leverage emerging policies, public-private models, and sustainability initiatives to build scalable, future-ready infrastructure solutions.

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Project Report

Typical Content Sheet
1Executive Summary
2Introduction
2.1Background
2.2Project Idea & Value Proposition
2.3Promoters’ Background
3Regulatory Framework
3.1Licenses and Approvals
3.2Regulatory Support & Restrictions
3.3Government Incentives and subsidies if applicable
4Market Assessment
4.1Industry Analysis & Overview of the Market
4.2Market Segmentation
4.3Demand Assessment
4.4Demand Drivers
4.5Supply Assessment
4.6Competition Analysis
4.7Demand Supply Gap and Market Forecast
5The Business and Operating Model
5.1Proposed Products
5.2Alternative Technologies
5.3Manufacturing Process
5.4Plant & Machinery and Plant Layout
5.5Installed Capacity and Utilization
5.6Infrastructure, Land, Location
5.7Raw Materials, Consumables, Utilities
5.8Inbound, In-plant and Outbound Logistics
5.9Manpower Plan and Organization Structure
6Financial Feasibility
6.1Key Project Assumptions
6.2Cost of the Project
6.3Means of Finance
6.4Revenue Estimates
6.5OPEX Estimates
6.6Loan Repayment Schedule
6.7Taxation and MAT Calculations
6.8Depreciation Schedule
6.9Proforma P&L Account (Forecast)
6.10Proforma Balance Sheet (Forecast)
6.11Cash Flow Statements
6.12Key Project Metrics (IRR, DSCR)
7Risk Assessment & Mitigation
8Caveats
 Appendices

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About Naresh Malhotra

Naresh is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers. He has completed a Diploma in Commodity Markets, a certified course in Trade Finance, and MSc. (Physics). He has 35+ years of experience in the Banking and Financial sector and 4+ years of global exposure. Specialized skills in Corporate/Mid-corporate/SME credit including stressed asset management, international banking, trade finance, strategy formulation and implementation, audit, and risk mitigation. He has worked with India Debt Resolution Company Ltd, M/s JCR & Co, Chartered Accountants, State Bank of India, etc. He regularly contributes to Business and Economy in print and visual media.

About Ramakrishnan Venkatraman

Ramakrishnan is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers and has completed M. Com. Ramakrishnan has over 3 decades of Qualitative Banking experience in diverse areas of Banking and Banking oriented IT Solutions including Delivery Management with Customer Operations and IT Project Management including vendor management. He is a senior advisor with exposure to all aspects of the Bank’s systems, procedures, manual of instructions, regulatory requirements, Anti-money laundering policies, Business process reengineering, and establishment of controls for mitigating risks. He worked as a General Manager and Head of Core Banking Solutions for a Technology Company and as a Vice President looking after processes and special projects for a private-sector bank and with Andhra Bank.

About Shailesh Gandhi

Shailesh Gandhi is a retired professor from IIMA with an overall experience of 30+ years in the finance & accounting domain.  He is a Chemical Engineer and is a Fellow IIMA. He specializes in various fields such as Financial reporting & analysis, management control, and  performance measurement and management systems. Shailesh is also a Independent director and a member of the audit committee on the board of Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC), a member on the board of IIM, Nagpur and the chairperson of the audit committee as well as a member of the finance Committee, Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar. In the past, he was also a member of the Cost Accounting Standards Board of the Institute of Cost & Management Accountants of India (ICMA).

About Amit Chatterjee

Dr. Amit, has overall 26 years of experience in domain of Social Impact, Training and Capacity Building, Monitoring and Evaluation of Social Enterprises, Livelihoods, Development Sector, Corporate entities, Government, Civil Society Organisations. He has worked with international organizations like IFAD; GIZ; UNDP; DFID; ADAA, UAE; CARE India. He has undertaken assessment of various schemes implemented by respective States as a part of specific assignments.  He has created and operationalised structure, team, systems, processes, Monitoring & Evaluation Plans.

He has conducted trainings to build capacity of teams and stakeholders. In his tenure across various organizations in corporate, consulting and development sectors, he has built capacities of staff, stakeholders, decision makers, influencers, service providers in the areas of innovative thinking and ideation; business orientation, management and continuity; business planning and operations; supply chain management; product pricing and packaging; marketing and sales management; financial management. The objectives of these sessions were to instil logical, rationale, systemic and futuristic thinking; process orientation; business/project cycle and flow.

He has worked in projects across India, namely Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi. He has authored around 6 publications in Social business, social entrepreneurship, social enterprises.

About RD Joshi

Dr Ravikant has 40 years of experience in Capacity Building, Urban Finance & Management, Administrative and  Taxation reforms. He has worked for almost all multilateral organisations including the World Bank, ADB, UN Habitat, USAID, DFID etc. as a consultant in India and outside India. He has worked for Government of India, Various State Governments and Municipal Governments in India and leading National and International Consulting firms in India and abroad. He has successfully implemented the conceptualization, designing & implementation for innovative Municipal Financial, Budgetary, Resource Mobilisation and Accounting System Reforms and their computerization in Vadodara Municipal Corporation. He has worked as a Team Leader of Technical Support Unit (funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) for National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) in Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, GoI – Delhi and has acquired expertise in areas like social mobilisation and institutional building, skilling, financial inclusion, and livelihoods of the urban poor. He has worked as an Urban Adviser to Urban Management Centre – Ahmedabad. He has written several books and articles regarding various urban issues / problems in regional language to create public awareness and more than 33 research papers in different seminars and workshops many of them have got published in different journals.

About Raghuvansh Mathur

Raghuvansh has over 45 years of deep expertise in Business Process Improvement, Operational Excellence, and Human Resource Management. He has led and managed complex assignments in the Engineering, Electronics, Telecom, Process, and Services Industries of India and Saudi Arabia.  He has a successful track record in the domestic and international markets with exposure in public, private, and government projects. He has done his Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering and Post-graduate Diploma in Industrial Engineering. In his professional career, he has worked at Actuate Business Consulting for over 25 years and as a director catered to many Indian and Multinational Companies.  He is adept at enhancing the competitiveness of manufacturing and service organizations through Business Process Reengineering, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and various such expert techniques. He also specializes in leading sustainable and quantifiable change/improvement programs. He is empanelled with the National Board of Accreditation as an evaluator for engineering programs. He is also a member of the All India Management Association and Delhi Management Association.

About Sandeep Khedkar

Sandeep has over 26 years of deep expertise in Global Business Transformation, Technology Consulting, Business Performance Improvement, Operations Management and Training. He is an expert in enterprise software solutions lifecycle, business process transformation, process improvement, operations strategy, enterprise analytics, and knowledge management. As a consultant with extensive experience at organizations like Hewlett Packard, Tech Mahindra, KPIT Cummins Infosystems, SSA Global and Satyam Computer Services, Sandeep is known for utilizing solutions consulting, discovery workshops and management education to deliver highly integrated business solutions. He has done his Master’s in Financial Management and Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering. He has also developed management concepts, best practices, and methodologies to simplify complex situations through abstraction and deduction, delivering holistic and value-based business solutions. He is a management education and training expert at various management schools and universities where he leverages his deep expertise to educate and train aspiring managers. He has authored books on business transformation and process transformation.

About S Narendran

Narendran has more than 25 years of experience in formulating and implementing strategic and tactical plans. He is especially proficient in executing global transformation programs for cost optimization and customer experience with exposure to a wide variety of tools. He also has deep expertise in formulating effective processes and managing modern business systems in challenging and diverse environments and change management. He has worked on projects in important sectors like Aerospace, Defence, Auto, Chemicals, Construction, FMCG, Logistics, etc. He has extensive management consulting experience at organizations like Renoir Management Consulting, Go Airlines, Tech Mahindra, and Siemens. He has done an executive program in management from Columbia Business School and his Post Graduate diploma in Business Management.  He has credentials of being one of the first person in India to lead an automation project (IoT) for a discrete manufacturing firm in India. He has presented papers on improving productivity by changing human behaviour in international conferences and has also conducted workshops on Change Management in IIM-Calcutta.

About Shreyamun Mehta

Shreyamun has over 30 years of cross-cultural and cross-functional experience in leading HR functions in large Indian as well as multinational companies. He is an expert in guiding, enabling, and partnering business leaders in achieving identified operational as well as strategic goals. He is especially proficient in talent acquisition, creating/reviewing and aligning job descriptions with current and futuristic business needs, onboarding, induction, learning, development, employee communication, and employee engagement. He has extensive Human Resource experience at organizations like Tata Motors, APM Terminals, Honeywell Technologies, Tata Chemicals, and Alcatel Lucent. He has a post-graduate diploma in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management. He has also done an Executive Management Development Certification Program from ESADE Business School in Spain. He is a Transformational Business Coach and an All-India Radio empanelled English Cricket Commentator.

About Drumil Patel

Drumil has over 27 years of experience in marketing and business development and over 15 years of experience in the Ports and Logistics sector. He has led and executed over 30 Port sector projects including strategic business planning, port feasibility studies, traffic studies, running forecast scenarios, port due diligence, transport corridor, integrated logistics studies, and cost analysis. He also has extensive expertise in port sector promotion, advertising, and publicity. He has earlier worked as Manager – Logistics and Business Consultancy and then as a Technical Director with BMT Consultants India where he has successfully executed several ports & logistics assignments. He has also served the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) as the Marketing Manager for 4 years. In his professional career, he has catered to Indian and International clients like IDBI Bank, Globex Ltd, Pelindp-II, Foresight Group & Padmanabh Mafatlal Group, Gujarat Maritime Board, and Carin India. He has done his MBA in Marketing and B. Sc. in Statistics. He was also a member of a working group constituted by GMB to help and support strategic port planning exercises for Gujarat state undertaken by the Netherlands Government-sponsored Port Development of Gujarat (PODEG) program.

About Prashant Pai

Prashant is a chartered accountant with over 22 years of deep expertise in audits, mergers, acquisitions, process consulting, strategy consulting, valuations, and corporate finance. He is adept in management consulting and strategy consulting assignments. He is also highly proficient in transaction support assignments like M&A advisory, Valuations, Partner Search, Risk Analysis, Risk Management, Deal Negotiation and Execution. He has exposure in both, buy side and sell side transactions including cross border transactions. He has extensive experience at organizations like Eterna Advisors, IndAsia Fund Advisors, Apex Mentors Pvt Ltd and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India. He has a successful track record in handling assignments across industries like Infrastructure, Pharmaceuticals, Hospitality, Education, Real Estate and Consumer Business. He has done his MBA in Finance and B. Com in Commerce and Economics. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Bombay Chartered Accountants Society. He is also a registered valuer of securities and financial assets with IBBI and a registered distributor of Mutual Funds with AMFI.

About Kalpesh Katira

Kalpesh Katira has pursued his master’s in economics and is a Fellow Member of Institute of Charted Accountants of India. He has worked with Deloitte for more than 13 years advising on Business Taxation and International Taxation (including advising on cross border transactions) and exchange control regulations with specialization in Corporate and International Taxation. Kalpesh has advised clients on various tax issues including tax planning, advising on tax structuring, contracts with foreign enterprises, expatriate taxation. Kalpesh has advised clients located in UAE on inbound investment into India through Intermediary Holding Company jurisdictions and on the funding avenues.

About Mitesh Majithia

Mitesh Majithia is a Chartered Accountant with 18 years of varied experience having eye for detail. Mitesh holds Certificate in Valuation from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and Diploma in International Financial Reporting (DipIFR) from ACCA, UK. He specializes in Foreign Exchange Laws (FEMA) and Corporate Laws, inbound and outbound investment strategy, Compounding proceedings, obtaining approvals of RBI and FIPB under FEMA. Mitesh has worked with Deloitte India, for around 11 years in Corporate Laws and M&A advisory; and Audit & Assurance.

About Sanatkumar Agrawal

Sanat has completed his BE in Instrumentation & Control engineering and is a MBA in Finance. He is also a Certified Treasury Manager from USA. An investment banking and corporate finance professional with over 19 years of experience specializing in investments, private equity advisory, valuations, due diligence and strategic business planning. Experience of working in India, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar with exposure of transactions in the MENA, Europe and Asia. Sanat has worked with a range of companies that include Grant Thornton, and Right-Angle Corporate Advisors, KPMG, Deloitte, Moore Stephens International (Kuwait). He has worked across sectors including global telecommunications, oil & gas, power, financial services, manufacturing, chemicals & pharmaceuticals, real estate & retail.

About Sathyan David

Sathyan David is a Ph.D.in Economics, M.A. (Hons.) in Economics and has also completed Risk Management in Banking from INSEAD. He has more than 35 years of experience in NBFCs, shadow banking, banking regulation/supervision), Payment Systems, Asset Reconstruction Cos. (ARCs), and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs). He has worked with Reserve Bank of India as Chief General Manager, Dept. of Non Bank Supervision, as Regional Director -Rajasthan, as Chief General Manager, Dept.of Banking Supervision. He is skilled in Data Analysis, Financial Risk, Operational Risk Management, legal issues in the financial sector. He was a faculty member of the Reserve Bank Staff College.

About Aarti Saxena

Aarti Saxena is BA, MA (Economics) & M.Sc (Social Policy & Planning in Developing Countries). She has over 12 years of collective and diverse experience in infrastructure development consulting, research and entrepreneurship. She has development consulting experience in business plan preparation, strategy & roadmap development, industry & market analysis, benchmarking, project management, operations management, client relationship & people management. She has vast experience in multi-cultural environments & with various tiers of government, private sector, and donor agencies. Sector exposure includes industrial clusters, SEZs, real estate, tourism, maritime, social development, and urban infrastructure. She has earlier worked with Ernst & Young LLP, Crisil Risk & Infrastructure Solutions Limited, Sai Maritime Group and Tomkins Research Ltd.

About Kaushik Dutta

Koushik Dutta is B.Tech (Hons.), Post Graduate Diploma in Management, and Fellow in Management (Strategic Management). He was a professor of practice in the strategic management area at Indian IM, Indore, and Heritage Business School, Kolkata. Dr. Dutta has more than 28 years of industry and consulting experience with the corporate, government, and international agencies, having worked full-time with Tata Consultancy Services and PricewaterhouseCoopers, and as a consultant to the World Bank, Family Health International, Govt. of West Bengal, Adam Smith International, and GIZ. He has written several articles in publications, journals and has presented several papers at conferences.

About Shyam Bhattbhatt

Shyam Bhattbhatt, a Cost Accountant, Company Secretary, and PGDBM(MPE) by qualification, has 26 years of post-qualification work experience with a focus on the corporate finance vertical. Also having exposure to other verticals such as business strategy, company secretarial assignments, costing, and accounts. He is a Strategic leader having the capability to independently envision, develop and operate SBUs. He has got exposure in both – financial services sector as well industry. He has In-depth competencies at executing private equity, debt syndication, debt restructuring, and M&A transactions. He has worked with Deloitte Touché Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd. as Manager – Corporate Finance.- Mumbai, with Capri Global Capital Ltd., a Leading NBFC as Associate Director – Corporate Strategy – Mumbai.

About Captain Y. P. Deulkar

Captain Y.P. Deulkar has done his masters (F.G) issued by the Ministry of Transport (Government of India) and is also a Qualified Auditor for I.S.M.. 9002. He has got over 22 years of professional work experience with about 14 years with SCI. He was actively involved in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit from inception till 2011. He has also entered into an agreement with the Netherlands Government for the exchange of technical know-how and port development (PODEG) projects. Captain Deulkar Worked with Gujarat Maritime Board as Traffic  Manager (Projects), G.M.(Business Development), G.M. Gujarat Port Infrastructure Development (G.P.I.D.C.L.).The job involved looking after all import/ export of Gujarat Non-Major Ports, Alang ship recycling yard, new projects, Ports and infrastructure development, and tourism development.

About Mihir Das

Mihir has 15 years of experience in core competencies like Port Operations Management, Shipping Logistics Optimization, Project Management (Sea–Road-Rail- Inland water Transport), Port Business Development, EXIM process optimization, ICD management & Audit, Port Process Re-engineering, ICT implementation in Ports, Environmental & Safety Audits. He is an MBA & B.Sc. Physics. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers. He is a faculty at ICFAI university & has earlier worked with Samsara Shipping, Mundra Ports & SEZ Ltd., SV Logistics, Kolkata Port & associated with JICA & ADB in their consulting exercises. He has wide exposure to ports namely Colombo – Sri Lanka, Singapore, Antwerp, Hong-Kong and nearly all Indian Ports. He has penned 7 books in Shipping, Ports, Transportation & Logistics.

About Sanjay Rego

Sanjay Rego is a practising Lawyer and a qualified Chartered Accountant. He is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Professionals, STEP) and also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Securities Laws. Sanjay has over 24 years of post-qualification experience of which about 14 years with Deloitte and has advised clients on matters relating to personal, trust commercial, tax, FEMA and corporate laws and relating to shareholder agreements. He specialises in estate planning and advises HNI’s with regard to their estate and succession plans. This includes drafting of Wills, Trust structures, advising of family agreements, Family Constitutions etc. He assists in advising clients on complex issues and has been able to provide innovative solutions to problems considering legal (including personal and inheritance laws), tax, and financial implications. Sanjay headed the legal, finance, and operations functions for about 5 years with Universal Trustees.

About Prakash Iyer

Prakash Iyer is an MBA, CFA and B.Sc (chemistry). Earlier an Associate Director with Meghraj Capital Advisors Pvt Ltd, Head-PPP with CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory, Sr. Associate Vice-President with Darashaw & Company Pvt Ltd and has also worked with Fortress Financial Services Ltd. He has 18 years of consulting experience in infrastructure development and has actively worked on promoting the development of infrastructure projects across sectors such as urban transport, urban regeneration, smart cities, land development, water supply and sanitation, roads, power, oil and gas, sports infrastructure, industrial parks, education parks and logistics with a special emphasis on projects being developed through PPP. He has worked with lenders, investors, multilateral agencies, government entities as well as private sector entities.

About Arindam Ghosh

Arindam Ghosh has earlier headed Forensic Services dept of KPMG Bahrain, was an Associate director with KPMG India and worked with organizations like Deloitte, Arthur Andersen, PWC & IPCL. He is an Electrical Engineer by qualification and has completed Advanced Computer Applications from Aptech. He has 26 years of experience in Management Consulting with Infrastructure and Power as a focused sector. His specialization includes Strategy Consulting, BPR, ERP implementation, CRM and Billing Solutions, Business Planning, Efficiency Improvement, Corporate Governance, Internal Audit, Forensic investigation, Loss reduction etc. He is a regular column writer in various local and international periodicals, he had published several articles in newspapers and business magazines in different parts of the world. He is also a regular speaker in various forums and presented on topics related to Smart Grid, Energy Accounting, Loss reduction.

About Hemant Bhattbhatt

Hemant Bhattbhatt is the Managing Partner and CEO of Hmsa. He is a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Corporate Director with over 30 years of professional experience of which about 16 years is as a Partner / Senior Director with Deloitte India. He has handled more than 150 strategy & operations consulting assignments. He led Deloitte India’s Transportation Sector and Power Sector practices. He has advised several MNCs and Large Indian enterprises on a range of issues including strategy formulation, business planning, project reports preparation, feasibility assessment, due diligence, valuations, PPP structuring, institutional strengthening, capacity building, and financial evaluation among others.

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