The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) denounces the three-year Public–Private Partnership (PPP) Project Pipeline of Rs 17 trillion announced by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, Government of India, as a policy initiative aimed at expanding private corporate control over publicly planned and funded infrastructure, detrimental to the interests of the people of India. CITU has been opposing the PPP model from the very beginning as it is nothing but the model of public spending and private profiteering.

The PPP Project Pipeline, anchored in the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) and articulated following policy directions in the Union Budget 2025–26, seeks to promote large-scale private control, including foreign capital, primarily in greenfield and under-construction infrastructure projects. These projects span highways, railways, power and energy, transport and logistics, and water–sanitation sectors, where the State undertakes major financial, regulatory, and demand risks while private entities are assured long-term revenue streams.

The Pipeline, comprising 852 projects, includes 232 projects worth Rs. 13.15 trillion under central ministries and departments, and 620 projects worth Rs. 3.85 trillion under States and Union Territories. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways accounts for 108 projects with a total cost of Rs. 8.77 trillion, followed by the Ministry of Power with 48 projects worth Rs. 3.04 trillion. Andhra Pradesh has the largest number of projects at 270 with a total cost of Rs. 1.16 trillion, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 89 projects amounting to Rs. 11,518 crore.

Private participation under the PPP Project Pipeline is proposed through long-term concession-based contractual models such as Build–Operate–Transfer (BOT), Design–Build–Finance–Operate–Transfer (DBFOT), Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), Build–Own–Operate–Transfer (BOOT), and projects supported through Viability Gap Funding (VGF). These models enable private capital to secure assured returns through user charges, annuity payments, and fiscal support, even as public funds, guarantees, and regulatory concessions form the backbone of investment.

The PPP Project Pipeline represents a disastrous policy of subordinating future public infrastructure to corporate profit imperatives, burdening the people with user fees and long-term fiscal liabilities, despite the predominant role of public finance and risk absorption by the State.

In essence, the PPP Project Pipeline amounts to the long-term transfer of operational control and revenue rights over nationally planned infrastructure in the name of partnership and efficiency. It deepens neo-liberal restructuring by placing essential public infrastructure at the service of corporate interests under the Modi-led government at the Centre. CITU strongly condemns the PPP Project Pipeline and calls upon the working people to resist this policy to safeguard national assets and public services.

Issued by,

Elamaram Kareem

General Secretary