 A nation in overdrive, the world's fastest growing free market democracy, an emerging global hub of knowledge and technology, a booming economy backed by internationally competitive industrial sectors. This surging growth and development taking place across the economy has thrown up new challenges and opportunities, particularly in the domain of infrastructure. What is the driving force that underlines this constantly growing need for bigger, better infrastructure? Over the last three years, India's economic growth has been 8% currently. This is one of the fastest growth rates in the world. In terms of US dollars, this translates to a growth rate as high as 13% per annum. From a mere 5 million landlines in 1991, the country has reached a point where 5 million cellular connections are added every month. The investment opportunities in this sector are backed by a national telecom policy that aims at encouraging private and foreign investments and overseen by an independent regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or DRY. In the auto industry, the turnover has grown from 12 billion dollars in 2002-2003 to 19 billion dollars in 2004-2005. To attract the investments needed to expand airport facilities, the government has amended the AAI Act to provide the legal framework for the privatization of airports. Moreover, it has announced 100% tax exemption for airport projects for a period of 10 years. The new foreign trade policy envisages doubling India's share in global exports in the next 5 years to touch the 150 billion US dollar mark. It is time for action and a master plan is needed to face the challenges thrown up by the sector. India's investment requirements in infrastructure are enormous and projected to rise from 4.5% of the GDP during the 10th plan to 7.5% of the GDP during the 11th plan. The resources of the government are not enough to bridge the gap. Such big-ticket infrastructure calls for very large amounts of foreign direct investment. Fortunately, the stage is already set to facilitate this. 15 years of reforms have created a level playing field for foreign investors and as mentioned earlier, India is currently viewed as one of the most attractive destinations for foreign capital. The country is a signatory to the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency and to a host of bilateral agreements. Hence, there are no restrictions on the repatriation of profits and dividends. The future is infrastructure. Investing in it will set off a mutually beneficial cycle of growth followed by a need for stronger infrastructure, enabling India to grow rapidly on a sustainable basis, ultimately to emerge as an economic superpower in the decades ahead. Invest in India's infrastructure.