India is wooing Canadians to help it achieve an economic miracle that is being threatened by an infrastructure deficit.
It is seeking some $41 billion in private-sector investment just for road projects over the next three to four years, Minister of Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath said.
The move is part of the Indian government’s plan to improve the country’s roads to help drive economic growth. The south Asian country has already started work on its plan to upgrade its entire highway system over the next five years.
The government has also looked into tapping sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and others looking for long-term investment opportunities.
India’s infrastructure “deficit” is seen as one of the of the biggest obstacles to the country’s development, said Nath, a former trade minister who is in Canada this week to woo Canadian investment in its infrastructure.
During the four-day visit Nath will meet Canadian International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan, Transport Minister John Baird, and corporate leaders to give further push to economic ties between the two countries.
He will also hold discussions with premiers of Ontario and Quebec  and Indian—born investor Prem Watsa who is known as the Warren Buffet of Canada. Watsa’s financial company Fairfax Financial Holdings has currently assets worth US$27 billion.
Nath’s meetings with Premier Dalton McGuinty of Ontario and Premier Jean Charest of Quebec assumes significance as these come close on the heels of the visit of two premiers to India in December and January respectively.
The two premiers had signed multiple agreements on clean energy, environment, research and education and supported a free trade agreement between the two countries during their visit to India.
“Canada has a huge opportunity to enter India’s infrastructure sector which needs $500 billion in the current plan. Kamal Nath will look for private partners — banks, pensions fund, etc. — to invest in India’s infrastructure development,” Canada—India Business Council (C—IBC) president Rana Sarkar told IANS.
 Sarkar said the Indian minister will also address the influential Economic Club in Ottawa where he will speak on ‘The infrastructure challenge before India,’ outlining India’s infrastructure requirements to keep up the high economic growth rate.
“The minister’s mission is to involve Canadians both as investors and infrastructure providers in India. Canada is one of the most solid economic jurisdictions in the world and it has solid investor groups who can play an important role in India ‘s development,” said  Sarkar.
He said North American companies are expected to meet 10 percent of India’s infrastructure requirements.
Nath who has been pushing for a free trade agreement between the two countries is also urging India for infrastructure bonds in different currencies, specially suited to NRIs, for raising resources for building roads in India.
India has so far embarked on building 7,000 km of roads a year, which translates into 20 km of roads a day.
“To achieve this, we need work on 20,000 km in progress. So, 20,000 km of work in progress means USD 50 billion worth of investment,” Nath said adding, “Wealth does not create roads, roads create wealth and what better investment is required for all-inclusive growth than investment in roads.”
Terming the next decade in India as the decade of infrastructure, he said 35,000 km of roads will be built in next five years and beginning April 1, 2010, the pace of building roads will be 20 km a day from 9 km now.
Bllomberg’s Business Week reported that India Infrastructure Finance Co., a state-run entity that extends loans at preferential rates, plans to raise $1 billion selling 10- year medium-term notes overseas in the next two years.
The agency has disbursed 75 billion rupees ($1.6 billion) of funds in the year ending March 31 and plans to boost lending to about 220 billion rupees next fiscal year, Kohli said. That’s dwarfed by the $500 billion the government says is needed to build infrastructure in the five years through March 2012.

Canadian colleges line up to set up in India

Many Canadian universities and colleges are likely to enter India after the Indian Parliament passes a Bill to allow foreign educational institutions to set up independent campuses in the country.
Currently, the universities and colleges from Canada and the US, run 26 collaborative projects in India with local universities and colleges.
“The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, the Canada-India Business Council and we have been lobbying Canadian universities to open campuses in India,” Husain Neemuchwala of the Canada-India Business Council education committee told the sources, labelling the proposed Bill a “welcome step”.
The Indian Cabinet on Monday cleared a proposal to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India, a step that is expected to provide quality education in the country and reduce the flow of Indian students abroad.
“This is a milestone, which will enhance choices, increase competition, and benchmark quality,” Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal said after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
Because of visa and other problems, less than 4,000 Indian students come to Canadian universities and colleges each year, as compared to 80,000 going to the US, 50,000 to Britain, and 40,000 to Australia.
“The Indian Bill solves all these problems. Now Canadian universities will go there and impart world-class education. All visa hassles will be over for Indian students,” said Husain who was part of an education mission by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce to India last month.
Quite a few Canadian universities already run programmes in India.
Among these, Toronto-based York University is the coordinating institution for education linkages and exchange programmes with various Indian institutions.
“York has just started its prestigious Schulich MBA programme in India in collaboration with the S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research in Mumbai. Under this programme, students will complete the first year in Mumbai and then come to Toronto to complete the second year. So Indian students will have the best of both the worlds,” said Husain who also heads the Toronto-based International Center for Education.
Apart from going to India with ministerial delegations and educational missions, presidents of many Canadian universities have undertaken independent trips to India to sign exchange agreements with universities and research institutions.
Roseann O’Reilly Runte, President and Vice Chancellor of Carleton University, was in India last week to seek support for its Center of Excellence for Indo-Canadian Relations.
“As India continues to be a significant player on the world stage, it will become more important to develop greater expertise in the Canada-India relationship,” she said during her India trip.