Improving Health and Education Service Delivery in India through Public-Private Partnerships

Health and education are defining sectors for equitable human development and sustainable and inclusive economic growth for India. Given the strong economic growth of the country in the past decade, increasing demand for public investment across all sectors has created investment gaps in these key sectors. In addition, challenges are also increasing in terms of service delivery standards, performance benchmarks, and incorporation of technology into the provision of health and education services to all, especially the poorest and those located far from the urban growth centers of the country.

Public-private partnerships or PPPs have shown their ability to meet some of these challenges both in India and overseas. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been assisting the Government of India since 2006 to develop PPPs across sectors in India, through a programmatic joint PPP Initiative, Mainstreaming PPPs in India. Under the initiative, a special task team of the ADB, together with the Government of India's Ministry of Finance and KPMG consultants undertook a rapid assessment study to develop possible PPP solutions for meeting the challenges of India's health and education sectors. Assessments of local PPP projects in the sector, consultations with state government officials in India, and best practice examples from the United Kingdom and other countries, have led to the development of this report.

A number of suggested PPP models for possible pilot projects have been conceptualized in this report after further consultations with government and private sector professionals in India. A number of these models are already being tailored for structuring some initial projects under way in the country.

This report will therefore provide a quick guide to international and national PPP cases in the sectors as well as practical ideas and suggested models to interested project sponsors, especially within government bodies responsible for sector development. Development of possible PPP projects based on some of the models and ideas suggested herewith will hopefully spur investment and efficiency gains in health and education infrastructure and service delivery mechanisms of the country.