India Set to Lead Major 21st Century Infrastructure Program: KPMG Report

In a report titled ‘KPMG 2024 Infrastructure and Transport CEO Outlook’, it revealed that one of the biggest infrastructure programs in the 21st century is likely to be carried out in India amongst major economies, and the creation of fiscal sources of capital will be very crucial for this initiative.

The KPMG report, while surveying 120 sector leaders from across the world, found out that the infrastructure and transportation sector CEO’s anticipate business growth over the next three years in terms of earnings and headcount.

It even revealed that globally, 57 percent of sector CEOs say stakeholder expectations pertaining to ESG are changing faster than they can adapt their strategy.

Over half of CEOs believe that the world’s failure on climate change adaptation would take a very real short-to-medium term hit to their growth, it added.

Global confidence and trust in governments continue to decline, as 62% of the respondents said that the public is increasingly looking towards businesses to bridge the void on societal challenges, the report said. It also stated that 71% also said they are willing to divest a profitable part of the business if it is damaging their organisation’s reputation.

Manish Aggarwal, Partner and Co-Head Deal Advisory, and Head Infrastructure, Disinvestments, and Special Situations Group, KPMG in India, said that the race to embrace emerging technologies, such as Gen AI, has risen up the agenda for CEOs across the infra and transport sectors.

A total of 1,325 CEOs who responded between July 25-29, 2024, for the KPMG CEO Outlook 10th edition provide new insights into the mindset, strategies, and planning techniques of CEOs.

All respondents have annual revenues of over USD 500 million, and a third of the total companies surveyed have more than USD 10 billion in annual revenue. The survey included CEOs from 11 key markets—Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the USA—and 11 key industry sectors.

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