Friday, May 5 2006 11:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (May 5, 2006) said over US$ 150 billion investment is needed in the next few years for development of India's infrastructure.

Speaking at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of Asian Development Bank (ADB) here, he said, "India's infrastructure need in next few years is estimated at over US$ 150 billion."

ADB, which till now has funded public transport, power and urban infrastructure projects in India, is now looking at investments in new areas including restoration of water bodies, tourism infrastructre and agriculture.

India's investment rate, he said, was 31 per cent of the GDP. This along with foreign investment flow was expected to further increase in future.

The Prime Minister said India was committed to its 'Look East' policy and would engage the ASEAN nations and the individual nations in building partnerships through FTA and CECA.

He said India had signed agreements with SAARC, Singapore and Thailand and it was working with China, Japan and South Korea for similar agreements.

Singh also said the economic cooperation may herald new FTAs in all over Asia that could even extend to Australia and New Zealand.

He, however, said the Asian crisis of 1997, which had severly dented global confidence towards globalisation, was something from which lessons could be learnt.

"With the benefit of hindsight, there's a view that funding must come from international financial institutions before the foreign exchange reserves dry up," he said.