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Massive investments in infrastructure are required. And this does not concern only India. Surprisingly Germany is also affected by a lack of investment in this strategic sector. But let us begin with India. The business community points out that the lack of infrastructure is the root of India's problems. It is a fact that the shortage of basic infrastructure is hampering the country's growth. We all remember the negative impact on India's economy and image that resulted from the huge power cuts in August 2012. The obvious cause of the blackout which affected 600 Million people was again an overloading of the network. The Federal authorities are fully aware that the national grid is overstressed but each Member State tries to score points sometimes to the detriment of others. Besides, India has a road network of approx 4,500,000 km which is the 2nd largest in the world. And the country has a long way to go to upgrade this network which is a mix of modern highways and unpaved roads. According to the Indian Highways Authority the national highways constitute only 1.7% of the road network but carry about 40% of the total road traffic. The country would add about 600km of modern highway per month through 2014. The rail network is covering a total length of 64,460km and transports 22 million passengers every day. It is the 4th largest in the world and needs also to be modernized. Its an enormous task but all these investments will support India's trade. And now a quick word about Germany. A recent report shows that 20% of the highways, 41% of the national roads as well as 46 % of the road bridges have been seriously deteriorating over the years. Germany currently spends 22 billion€ a year for its road, railway and river network. However this is not yet enough to sustain its growth objective. Which goes to show that developed and emerging countries may face the same kind of problems!

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