REGIONAL REPORT DFI of India Dr. K.S. Rama Krishna Chair, DFI of India At the outset, I would like to thank Dan Brown, Ph.D., P.E., D.GE, DFI pres ident , for conferring a 2017 DFI President’s Award to me in recognition of my humble services to the Deep Foundations Institute. I would like to dedicate this award to all those at DFI and in India who have devoted their time and efforts to wholeheartedly support t h e i n i t i a t i v e s we h a v e undertaken in India. The work has just begun, and we must ensure that we persist with our efforts in realizing the goals we have set to make the deep foundations industry in India very professional and on par with the best in the world. DFI of India Office In December 2017, we formally established a full-time office for DFI of India with a three-member team including a director of opera- tions, executive assistant, and accounts and administration executive. Opportunities in India Under the dynamic leadership of the current Prime Minister of India, the Indian government is introducing major reforms that will serve as incentives to the Indian economy. India began witnessing a phenomenal spurt in infrastructure projects during the previous one to two decades, which is providing significant potential for growth in the construction industry. The construction share of Indian GDP is hovering around 8 percent, which grew steadily from about $43 billion to $165 billion from 2006-2007 to 2016-2017. Here are a few examples of construction market growth: • Since independence, India added nearly 36,700 km of highway up to 2002 (a daily average of about 1.82 km), about 6,515 km from 2002 to 2006 (a daily average of about 3.57 km), and an additional 28,800 km from 2006 to 2016 (a daily average of about 7.9 km). Furthermore, there are more highway projects currently in planning and design. • Indian Railways (IR) Vision 2020 was presented to Parliament in December 2009. At the time of independence in 1947, IR inherited a system with nearly 54,000 km of routes. As of 2009, IR contained nearly 64,100 km of lines, having added only about 10,000 km during those 62 years. Vision 2020 proposed to add 25,000 km of new lines by 2020, which includes the completion of a backlog of about 12,000 km of lines already sanctioned. • Catching up with urbanization trends in India, metro cities ventured into building up urban infrastructure beginning back in the early 2000s. Left to Right: Prasad, Athif and Mahendran G. Venkata Prasad is the director of operations and is handling the affairs of DFI of India. He has more than three decades of experience in construction in India and has worked in senior management positions at Larsen & Toubro (L&T) handling multiple and challenging assignments. He has a passion for analysing the complexities of the construction industry at the micro level by collecting extensive data, and in finding apt solutions to enhance the professionalism and productivity of the industry. M. Mohamed Athif is the executive assistant to the director of operations. He has a post-graduate degree in advanced construction management from the National Institute of Construction Management and Research (NICMAR) in Pune, which is a premier institute in India. Athif has four years of experience with reputed construction companies in India. Prasad and Athif are joined by T.S. Mahendran, accounts and administration executive. • In 2017, Delhi Metro commissioned a 330 km line, which will provide a lifeline to Delhi City in terms of meeting its mass transportation needs. In addition, this year, Delhi Metro announced that the fourth phase of a 106 km line (estimated cost of Rs 55,000 cr) would commence. • Metro line development has been ongoing or in the works in Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Cochi. Following the pace for metro line development set in these areas, other cities such as Lucknow, Kanpur, Patna, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Indore, Nagpur and Bhopal are following suit. In addition to the above examples of infrastructure projects, airport expansions and green field airports in cities such as Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai provide opportunities to the construction industry. With the pace of urbanization picking up, future potential growth for construction industry in India is expected. Looking Ahead Based on figures compiled by Indian Infrastructure magazine, future projects of infrastructure construction that have been lined up for implementation in the near future have a potential of $385 billion. However, with the backdrop of several projects incurring DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JAN/FEB 2018 • 45
