New Delhi: Big infrastructure and privatisation drives are in the works to give growth a boost with the government watching as many as 14 indicators every week to keep tabs on economic recovery, economic affairs secretary Tarun Bajaj told ET.The cabinet secretary has already held a meeting to get the infrastructure plan going and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a review soon.“We are monitoring 14 parameters on a weekly basis to see the change,” Bajaj said, adding that things are looking up. “We may not have reached the previous levels but are closing in on those levels — contraction has come down... Select segments such as tractor sales, FMCG, have shown a rise.”ET reported July 2 that key measures such as e-way bills, GST collections and exports were on the rebound with the lockdown having been eased. The economy is expected to contract in FY21 because of the shutdown imposed March 25 to contain the coronavirus outbreak.Bajaj, a 1988-batch IAS officer who took charge as economic affairs secretary on May 1 after a stint at the PMO, said the government is looking to road and railway projects, which can have a spin-off effect, to play a key role in revival.Infrastructure spending won’t flag as the government is eyeing innovative ways of funding this key segment, he said. 76805306Big Names Interested in Station RedevelopmentThe National Highways Authority of India’s plan to raise ₹50,000 crore through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with the National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) for the Delhi-Mumbai expressway has been backed by his department.“Railway privatisation (trains) and station redevelopment are being closely monitored and are moving ahead,” he said. As part of this, Indian Railways last week kicked off the process of inviting bids from private companies to run 151 trains on 109 routes. Its station redevelopment plan for Gwalior, Nagpur, Amritsar and Sabarmati has seen interest from companies including US-based I-Squared Capital, GMR, Kalpataru Group and Fairfax.Bajaj said the real estate fund has also moved ahead.“We have already cleared 70 projects worth ₹8,000 crore under SWAMIH (Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing). This will help more than 40,000 housing units to be completed,” he said, adding that more projects will be added to this list soon. SWAMIH will provide last-mile funds for stalled housing projects.PSE POLICYThe proposed policy on public sector enterprises (PSEs) will bolster the privatisation drive.“There is a big privatisation push. The new PSE policy announced as part of the (Atmanirbhar Bharat) package was very significant in this direction,” he said, adding that the government is committed to implementing this fully. The divestment department is framing the policy to identify strategic and non-strategic sectors. The government has said that it will exit non-strategic sectors.Bajaj said announcements made as part of the Atmanirbhar package were being monitored closely, to the level of implementation.The government had announced a host of measures including a credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs and policy measures including removal of restrictions on sale of farm produce as part of the self-reliance programme aimed at reviving the economy and reducing dependence on imports.