Economic Survey outlines roadmap to reduce structural uncertainty in PPP

New Delhi: India’s public-private partnership (PPP) framework must evolve from a transaction-focused model to one centred on system-level market building, with greater emphasis on reducing structural uncertainty, the Economic Survey 2025-26 said on Thursday.

The pre-Budget document tabled in Parliament stressed the need for clearer sectoral pipelines with multi-year visibility, stronger alignment between national programmes and bankable project prepara-tion, and disciplined closure of pre-construction risks by public authorities. It noted that PPP outcomes have been weakest where issues such as land acquisition, statutory clearances, demand assessment and utility shifting remain unresolved.

The Survey said a credible PPP regime will increasingly be defined by the State’s ability to absorb early-stage risks that private capital cannot efficiently price, rather than by risk transfer on paper.

While PPP frameworks have matured at the central level and in select sectors, challenges persist at the sub-national level due to trust deficits, limited understanding of risk–reward principles and uneven institu-tional capacity.

Calling for the professionalisation of PPP cells and programmatic approaches, the Survey highlighted gains in highways and ports.

In shipping, strengthened landlord port models have driven PPP growth, with projects awarded rising from 37 in FY15 to 87 in FY25 and total project value surging to Rs 61,029 crore.