Risk-averse bankers slowing construction of India's infra projects: Gadkari

Risk-averse bankers are slowing construction of infrastructure projects in India, Nitin Gadkari, the country’s minister for road transport and highways, said.

Loans to road contractors and bank guarantees for projects have dried up, threatening to stall India’s plans to build more than 84,000 kilometers (52,195 miles) of roads by 2022, Gadkari said, addressing the Bloomberg India Economic Forum on Tuesday.

“For the sake of industry, sake of investment, sake of contractors, creating jobs, for the sake of economy, we need positive support from banks,” he said. “They are giving support but it is a slow process.”

India’s plan to modernize the highways network requires billions of dollars of investment but the worst bad-loan ratio after Italy among the world’s 20 largest economies has led bankers to shy away from this sector. Public lenders account for 90 percent of the $210 billion of stressed debt on Indian banks’ balance sheets.