No shortage of global money; India must unlock it through REITs and InvITs, says Amitabh Kant

India’s economic trajectory over the next two decades will be determined by the scale and speed at which it builds new infrastructure, and Amitabh Kant believes that REITs and InvITs must be at the heart of this transformation. Speaking at the National Conclave on REIT & InvITs 2025 in New Delhi on Friday, the former G20 Sherpa and ex–CEO of NITI Aayog said the country's ambition to shift from a $4-trillion economy to over $30 trillion by 2047 demands a fundamental rethinking of how the country mobilises long-term capital.

Kant also highlighted the enormity of the challenge. He added that India’s GDP would need to grow nine times, per capita income eight times and manufacturing sixteen times. Infrastructure, however, must expand more than twenty times because half of the India of 2047 is yet to be built. Such an expansion cannot be financed through conventional means alone, he said, stressing that financial innovation is the only realistic route to sustainable infrastructure growth. REITs and InvITs, backed by SEBI and government ministries, will have to play a defining role.

Globally, REITs and InvITs represent a $4 trillion market dominated by economies like the US, Germany and Japan which are already fully built. India, with its vast and still-growing infrastructure base, should ideally be leading the next wave of growth. Instead, it has only 27 InvITs across nine sectors, managing assets worth roughly $81 billion. Kant called this scale “minuscule” for a country with India’s potential and urged the ecosystem to target $1 trillion in assets, a 13 to 15 times expansion.

He also said that India is slowing its own progress through costly mistakes. Unrealistic valuations, optimistic assumptions and sensitivity to interest rates have dampened investor confidence. Public sector participation remains strikingly low despite the government owning nearly 75% of the country’s infrastructure.

A larger concern, he said, is the absence of a predictable, multi-year pipeline of ready assets. Monetisation intentions have been stated, but actual transfers to REIT and InvIT structures remain minimal. Kant reminded the audience that there is no shortage of global money; sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors are eager to invest. What India lacks are well-prepared, professionally managed and transparently governed structures.

To unlock a trillion-dollar market, Kant urged ministries to shift from being custodians of assets to enablers of investment. State governments and municipal bodies must pool city-level assets, deepen domestic institutional participation and ensure long-term regulatory stability. If India acts with urgency, he said, REITs and InvITs can become the backbone of the country’s economic rise and a central pillar of its journey from $4 trillion to $30 trillion.