Vol.2, Issue 3, 2023

Infrastructure Quarterly

Professor Chandan Chowdhury, Executive Director, PLIIM

Our Vision & Mission

Punj Lloyd Institute of Infrastructure Management (PLIIM) is established within the Indian School of Business as a specialist Institute to support its Infrastructure agenda. The Punj Lloyd Institute of Infrastructure Management seeks to help create top quality management capacity for the Infrastructure and Real Estate Sectors.

Vision

To create high-quality leadership and management capacity for the infrastructure and real estate sectors and create an understanding of the sustainability dimensions impacting the sectors, by delivering quality education, contextual research, and continuous outreach.

Mission
  • Create top-quality educational and training programmes
  • Facilitate learning through online programmes
  • Undertake research that is contextual to the Indian and developing country context
  • Develop tools and decision support systems to support the infrastructure practice
  • Undertake continuous outreach to support the sector
  • Serve as a "Go to" place for the infrastructure sector in India and abroad.

The Punj Lloyd Institute undertakes various initiatives to guide the infrastructure sector toward efficient and sustainable development through research initiatives, knowledge-sharing events, and training public officials and industry professionals. To meet its vision, the institute works closely with corporates in three verticals, Education, Outreach, and Research.

Education

AMPI: Co2024

Students with Prof Chandan Chowdhury

  • The third term of the Co2024 was successfully conducted from the 14th of October to the 22nd of October at the Hyderabad campus.
  • There were two speaker sessions during the residency
  • The students studied core subjects related to infrastructure during the residency and made presentations on the progress made in their action learning projects.

Research

Accelerating Growth of Infrastructure in India: Role of InvITs & REITs
Synopsis:

India is the fastest-growing major economy in the world and home to the world’s largest population. Robust infrastructure is the backbone of any economy and acts as a vehicle of growth. Large Infrastructure projects such as roads, highways, power plants, ports, and townships, along with real estate sectors have witnessed growing demand for capital in recent times. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) are instruments to raise public money. These instruments address the needs of investors and corporations. Investors get diversification of their portfolio with regular income whereas corporations get access to large public funds. This ALP intends to study the REITs & InvITs model in the Indian context and investors’ behaviour and response to take part in the investment cycle to boost the growth of Infrastructure in India.

Team 1

A Strategic Approach for a Green Data Centre
Synopsis:

In 2022, India had 138 data centres with a power consumption of 637 MW. The numbere is projected to grow to 812 data centres that will consume 5000 MW. Daily CO2 emissions of a 40 MW data centre is 480,000 kg CO2/day, which is significantly higher than the daily CO2 emissions of a typical passenger car (23 kg CO2/day). Data centres can switch to clean and renewable energy alternatives to reach the net zero goals of India and the world. Power generated by solar energy, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, biomass, tidal, and fuel cells can reduce the CO2 emissions of a data centre. The intermittent nature of the availability of these alternative sources of energy needs storage solutions. One such solution is thermal batteries. Chemical batteries have some drawbacks such as limited energy density, slow recharge times, degradation and limited life span, and negative environmental impact. This ALP focuses on evaluating green initiatives and technologies such as thermal batteries, energy optimization strategies, cost analysis and return on investment (ROI), and recommendations for implementing energy-saving measures in the design of a green data centre.

Team 2

Strategies for Sustainable Operations of MRTS in India
Synopsis:

A large number of metro rail corporations are operating in red. . The reasons for losses are twofold: (1) High cost of operations, and (2) Revenue shortfall. This ALP's scope is limited to metro railway corporations in India. The primary data is through visits to Delhi Metro Rail, Noida Metro Rail, Hyderabad Metro, etc. The secondary data is under collection from the annual reports of metro railway organizations across the world, the World Economic Forum, and the World Bank Data. A Pareto analysis of costs will be used to examine the operational costs and revenue streams. A set of recommendations related to cost reduction (cost reduction, use of renewable energy, automation with AI) and revenue increase (community EV facility, licenses to commercial complexes) will be proposed. Financial analysis of solutions (cost-benefit analysis, payback period, return on investment (ROI), and social cost-benefit analysis) will be presented.

Team 3

Appraising the Value Proposition of Green Communities
Synopsis:

Within the Indian infrastructure space, the adoption of green tech within the commercial and office space is high. However, the same cannot be said for the residential sector, which forms more than 75% of the real estate within India. This ALP develops a business case for the adoption of green technology and methods by end customers within the residential townships. Their research and analysis will include value benefit analysis, financial analysis, review of construction methods, and existing models. Through this exercise, a survey of the existing green infrastructure space will be done and an analyse based on several metrics. In addition, they will recommend steps and measures to further improve the business case of green infrastructure within the Indian real estate context. This objective is to increase adoption by end users through the presentation of our analysis and findings. The target recipients of the findings of this research will be the end retail customers and the real estate companies.

Team 4

Outreach

Speaker Session by Mr. Kamesh Rao

Topic: Airport Design and Development from an Indian Perspective

On October 19, 2023, Mr. Kamesh Rao, the Director of GMR Infrastructure, took the stage at our Hyderabad campus as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series for the Advanced Management Programme for Infrastructure. His talk, titled 'Airport Design and Development from an Indian Perspective,' was an eye-opener that brought great insights.

He shattered myths in the process, such as:

  • Complexity Beyond Passenger Count: It is not just the passenger that decides the airport's capacity but also the aircraft’s movements and the handling of your baggage! The formula is a complex algorithm of the capacities of the runway, the apron, the terminal, and the landside.
  • Airlines Are the True Customers: Are passengers the airport's primary customers? Think again. According to Mr. Rao, it's the airline that takes center stage. This perspective is akin to how the primary customers for business schools are companies rather than students.
  • Insightful Projections: India will handle over 1.3 billion passengers annually by 2040. Considering that our projected population in 2040 is 1.5 billion, these figures are astonishing.

Students with Mr. Kamesh Rao

Meeting with IGBC at Hyderabad – 26th Oct

On October 26th, Dr. Chandan Chowdhury and Aastha Singh (Research Associate), visited Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Center (GBC) in Hyderabad, which serves as the headquarters of the Indian Green Buildings Council (IGBC).They met Mr. Anand Muthukrishnan, the Deputy Executive Director of IGBC, and his accomplished team and discussed varios aspects related to thought leadership, focusing on infrastructure developments and emerging trends within the green building domain. The discussions extended to exploring potential avenues for research collaboration in various domains, such as affordable housing and cutting-edge data centers, reflecting the dynamic nature of the sustainable development landscape. Within this framework, a preliminary set of deliverables was established, complete with well-defined timelines,.

Meeting with Member Admin NHAI

Col Rajiv Bhargava met Member Admin of NHAI for collaboration in research and training. The key areas discussed were:

  • Speaker Engagement for Advanced Management Programme: We invited Mr. Chauhan to participate as a distinguished speaker in our Advanced Management Programme for Infrastructure. He willingly agreed to participate in the event. His session will undoubtedly be a highlight of the programme.
  • Revitalising Collaboration for NHAI Executives: The member-secretary expressed his willingness to consider revitalizing our collaboration, particularly in enhancing the capabilities of NHAI executives. We strongly advocate for their participation in our Advanced Management Programme for Infrastructure. The NHAI will shortly take a call on nominations for the programme.

Punj Lloyd Institute of Infrastructure Management

Indian School of Business, Knowledge City,
Sector 81, Mohali 140306.