Treat water as infrastructure that must be built, paid for: CEA

Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran addressed the CII Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Summit 2026 in Chennai, urging water to be treated as infrastructure that requires planning, construction, and funding. He criticized the current approach of pricing water at zero and treating it as limitless, leading to wastage and underinvestment.

Nageswaran pointed out that the floor space index (FSI) in India is significantly lower than in other global cities, which constrains urban development. He advocated for a water buffer storage system to ensure water supply during dry spells, pointing out that current practices of free water availability are unsustainable and destroy natural resources.

The pricing of water at zero has helped those with existing water connections while leaving the poor without access, creating a subsidy for the well-off. To rectify this, Nageswaran called for a fair pricing system that will both protect the vulnerable and ensure equitable access to water resources.