New Delhi, Feb. 5: Finance minister P. Chidambaram is in favour of adopting the Chinese model of strict discipline and the reward-punishment system for timely execution of projects.

“We need to emulate the Chinese model for those who are in-charge of a project execution so that they are completed on time,” said Chidambaram.

Welcoming frequent comparisons between the two emerging economies of India and China, the minister said: “There is much to learn from China and we wish to emulate China in infrastructure.”

India spends only 4 per cent of its GDP on infrastructure investment compared with China’s 9 per cent. In absolute dollar terms, China spends seven times as much on its infrastructure.

“China and India complement each other in many ways but, in many areas, we compete with each other,” Chidambaram said.

“Since 2001, India has attracted more private investment in infrastructure than China,” said Praful Patel, vice-president (South Asia), World Bank.

Core sector growth

The upturn in crude oil and power production negated the impact of poor performance of steel, coal and cement sector and powered growth of six core infrastructure industries to a healthy 8.3 per cent in December 2006 compared with 7.5 per cent in the year-ago period.

The buoyancy during the month ensured that the six core sectors of the industry clocked a growth of 8.3 per cent in the first three quarters of 2006-07 against 5.5 per cent in the same period last year, figures released by the ministry of commerce and industry said.

The index of the six sectors, which have a combined weight of 26.7 per cent in the overall index of industrial production, stood at 232.6.

In April-December 2006, crude oil production grew by 6 per cent against the negative growth of 6 per cent in the first three quarters of the previous fiscal.