Modi vow to unclog nation faces grimmer reality

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of bullet trains and jam-free roads connecting gleaming cities lit by reliable power faces an obstacle: the difficulty of achieving infrastructure spending goals.

Modi in July said he'd boost outlays on projects such as highways and ports 21 percent to 5.75 trillion rupees ($93 billion) in the year through March 2015. In the nine months ending December, he'd spent 3.5 trillion rupees - little changed on the same period in the prior fiscal year.

UBS Group AG sees Modi increasing capital spending 35 percent in India's budget on Saturday, but the question is how much of the plan gets implemented by a byzantine bureaucracy. The answer will determine whether Modi can make good on his vow to energize growth and help shape the outlook for construction companies such as Larsen & Toubro Ltd and Lanco Infratech Ltd that face falling profits or losses.