Over the last decade, India’s infrastructure story has been one of scale. But as CRISIL’s estimates show, the next five years (2027–31) will demand around ₹145–155 lakh crore in infrastructure investment — almost 1.9x the previous five years.  

In this conversation, Suresh Goyal, DG, NCAER, sits down with Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, Senior Director and Global Head at CRISIL Intelligence, to ask: how do we use a systems-thinking approach to build and finance resilient infrastructure?  

They discuss:   

• Why the next decade must shift from “building infrastructure” to “building systems” — roads, rail, energy, and water need to be planned together  

• Lessons from tunnel boring machine shortages, energy security, and India’s limited flagged shipping fleet  

• Unlocking domestic capital: insurance, pensions, InvITs, and retail investors as the next wave of infrastructure financiers  

• The NHIT story: how investor participation grew from 27 to 600+ investors and AUM from ₹8,000 crore to ₹50,000 crore+  

About Parisila Perspectives  

Parisila Perspectives is NCAER’s podcast on macroeconomics and public policy. It features leading voices shaping India’s economy, governance and development landscape.