New Delhi, June 30 (IANS). Water demand in India is expected to be almost double the available water supply by 2030, and an investment of more than Rs 20 lakh crore is likely to be needed over the next decade to meet this challenge. This information has been given in a report of PL Capital released on Tuesday.
According to the report, this investment will mainly be in water treatment, wastewater recycling and development of sewage infrastructure.
The report said India is home to about 18 percent of the world’s population, but has only 4 percent of global freshwater resources.
Due to rapid urbanization, industrialization, excessive exploitation of ground water and increasing water consumption in agriculture, the water crisis in the country is continuously deepening.
That is why water security has now become a national priority and will require huge investments in projects like water purification, distribution, storage and recycling.
Vikram Cassatt, chief business officer (advisory), PL Capital, said that unlike other infrastructure sectors, investment in the water sector is not dependent on the economic cycle.
He said that investment related to water security is essential for long-term, strategic and sustainable development.
According to him, increasing urbanization, expansion of industries and tightening of environmental standards will lead to strong demand in the long run for projects related to water purification, water recycling, seawater desalination and re-use.
The report said several key schemes of the central government are accelerating investments in the water sector, including initiatives such as Jal Jeevan Mission, AMRUT 2.0 and Namami Gange programme.
Additionally, the increased allocation in the budget of the Jal Shakti Ministry is strengthening clean drinking water, improved sewerage systems and waste water treatment projects.
According to the report, sewage treatment is emerging as the biggest investment opportunity in the entire water sector.
The country generates more than 72,000 million liters of sewage every day, but the treatment capacity is very low in comparison. Due to this, large quantities of untreated dirty water is being released directly into the environment.
The report believes that huge investments in sewage treatment plants and waste water reuse projects are expected to address this large infrastructure gap.
The report also said that in the coming years, the demand for ultra-pure industrial water will increase rapidly due to the expansion of emerging industries such as data centers, semiconductor, electronics manufacturing, green hydrogen and specialty chemicals, thereby creating new business opportunities for the water purification and recycling industry.
–IANS
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