Mumbai: Increasing policy thrust on water that got amplified amidst the ongoing crisis plaguing Chennai and other drought-prone areas elsewhere in the country, will result in an investment of USD 270 billion over the next 15 years, says a brokerage.
The controversial river-linking project alone will account for USD 168 billion in investments over the next 15 years, while the ambitious plan to supply piped water to every home will entail another USD 94 billion, according to an estimate by American brokerage Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
"It is very difficult for the government to find all the resources needed to be invested in such projects and it is important for models to evolve to ensure that the private sector can participate," its co-head for India research Amish Shah told reporters Tuesday.
He also said policies need to seriously look at the ways of reducing water intake, and pointed to the data such as a whopping 5,600 litres of water needed to produce 1 kg of rice in the country, against just about 300 litres for the same in China.
Pointing out that as much as 89 percent of the entire available fresh water is used by agriculture, Shah said free or subsidised power in many states is something we must to look at as free/subsidised electricity incentivises over- usage/wastage of ground water.
During the past five years alone, investments on water related infra have grown at a compounded annual rate of 15 percent and touched USD 21 billion last fiscal, he said.