Tiru Kulkarni writes,India’s infrastructure ambitions create an opportunity to rethink not only how quickly assets are built, but how intelligently they are designed.
India’s infrastructure story has traditionally been measured in kilometres of highways built, railway lines commissioned, bridges completed and urban assets added. These metrics remain important, but as the country enters a more demanding phase of infrastructure development, another question is becoming increasingly relevant: how well will these assets perform over their entire lifecycle?
The next infrastructure advantage may not come simply from building more. It could increasingly come from building better with materials and engineering systems that improve durability, manage environmental stresses, reduce maintenance requirements and deliver greater value over time.
This is particularly important as infrastructure expands into more complex terrains and faces increasingly variable climatic conditions. Roads and railways in India must operate across mountains, flood-prone regions, soft soils, coastal areas and densely populated urban environments. In such conditions, the performance of the underlying ground and supporting systems can be as important as the visible structure itself.
Moving beyond the lowest initial cost
Infrastructure decisions are often evaluated against upfront construction costs. However, the initial price of a material is only one component of the economics of an asset.
A more comprehensive approach considers the total lifecycle value including construction time, maintenance requirements, repair frequency, service life and resilience to environmental stresses.
This shift is particularly relevant for roads, railways, embankments, retaining structures, drainage systems and erosion-control applications. Materials that improve ground stability, separation, filtration, reinforcement or drainage can influence how an infrastructure asset performs long after construction is complete.
India’s National Technical Textiles Mission has identified geotextiles and related applications for roads, railways, embankments, drainage, erosion control and landslide mitigation as areas for research and development. Government initiatives have also encouraged the use of geosynthetic products such as geocells, geocomposites and geogrids in infrastructure applications.
The larger opportunity is therefore not simply to introduce new materials, but to evaluate materials based on what they enable an infrastructure system to achieve.
Designing for India’s diverse conditions
India does not have a single infrastructure environment.
A road constructed in a high-rainfall region faces different challenges from one built across expansive soils or mountainous terrain. Railway infrastructure in areas vulnerable to erosion requires different considerations from urban transport infrastructure operating under high traffic loads.
This makes material selection an engineering decision rather than a procurement decision.
The right material system can help address specific site conditions by improving soil reinforcement, separation, filtration, drainage or erosion control. The objective should not be to replace conventional construction materials indiscriminately, but to combine different engineering approaches where they provide measurable performance benefits.
This application-led approach is particularly relevant as infrastructure projects become more complex and as construction moves into challenging geographies.
Recent national discussions around geosynthetics for highways and railways have highlighted applications ranging from reinforced soil structures and retaining systems to resilient railway infrastructure and challenging terrain.
Climate resilience needs to become part of material selection
Climate resilience can no longer be treated as a separate consideration after infrastructure has been designed.
Extreme rainfall, flooding, erosion and landslides can expose weaknesses in roads, embankments and other transport infrastructure. The World Bank has highlighted the vulnerability of India’s road network to climate-related events and the need to incorporate climate resilience into planning, design and asset management.
Material selection therefore needs to account for the environmental conditions an asset is expected to encounter throughout its operating life.
For example, drainage and water management can be critical to maintaining the integrity of roads and embankments. In areas susceptible to erosion or slope instability, reinforcement and erosion-control measures can form part of a broader resilience strategy.
The objective is not to make every infrastructure project climate-proof through a single intervention. Rather, resilience needs to be built into the design logic of the entire asset, with materials playing an important supporting role.
The sustainability conversation is also changing
Infrastructure sustainability is increasingly moving beyond the question of whether a material is labelled “green.”
The more meaningful questions are increasingly about resource efficiency, durability, maintenance, material use and lifecycle performance.
India’s road infrastructure programme is already examining the use of recycled materials, waste products and other environmentally friendly technologies, including plastic waste, reclaimed asphalt pavement, fly ash and natural geotextiles, where technically suitable.
This points towards a more nuanced understanding of sustainable infrastructure.
A material that extends the functional life of an asset, reduces maintenance interventions or enables more efficient use of construction resources can contribute to sustainability in ways that may not be captured by its initial material composition alone.
Future infrastructure planning will therefore need to balance performance, durability, resource efficiency and end-of-life considerations rather than treating these as independent objectives.
From construction materials to engineered systems
One of the most important changes underway is the evolution of technical materials from being viewed as standalone construction inputs to becoming part of engineered systems.
A geotextile, geogrid, geocell or geocomposite should not be evaluated simply as another material on a bill of quantities. Its value lies in the engineering function it performs within a particular application.
This requires greater collaboration between material manufacturers, civil engineers, consultants, contractors, researchers and infrastructure authorities.
It also requires stronger technical knowledge at the design stage. Material selection needs to be based on site conditions, loading, drainage requirements, soil characteristics, expected service conditions and applicable standards.
The growth of R&D in India’s technical-textiles ecosystem reflects this broader transition. Current research programmes include advanced geotextiles, geogrids and geocomposites for pavements, railways, embankments, drainage, erosion control and landslide mitigation.
The opportunity for India
India’s infrastructure ambitions create an opportunity to rethink not only how quickly assets are built, but how intelligently they are designed.
India’s technical-textile exports stood at Rs 219.70 billion during April–December 2025, compared with imports of Rs 189.53 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of Rs 30.17 billion, according to DGCIS data cited by the Ministry of Textiles.
The next step is to deepen the connection between material science and infrastructure engineering.
This means greater use of performance-based specifications where appropriate, stronger field validation, better technical standards, more application-focused R&D and wider awareness among designers and project developers.
It also means recognising that infrastructure efficiency is not always visible.
A material embedded beneath a road, integrated into an embankment or used to manage water and soil movement may never be seen by the public. Yet its contribution can influence the durability and performance of the asset for years.
Building for the next 25 years, not just the next project
India’s infrastructure requirements are expanding rapidly. But the objective should not simply be to create more assets. It should be to create assets that continue delivering value under changing conditions.
That requires a shift from project cost to lifecycle value, from conventional materials to engineered material systems, and from reactive maintenance to performance-oriented design.
The infrastructure of the future will depend on concrete, steel, asphalt and other conventional materials. But increasingly, its performance will also depend on the engineered materials working alongside them.
The next infrastructure advantage, therefore, may not always be visible above the ground.
It will be built into the materials we choose, the way we engineer them and the way we design infrastructure to perform for decades rather than simply to meet the requirements of the day.
About the author:
Tiru Kulkarni is President & COO – Geosynthetics Division at Garware Technical Fibres Ltd., with over two decades of experience in the global geosynthetics industry. A Civil Engineering graduate from the University of Mumbai with a postgraduate qualification in Construction Management from NICMAR, Pune, he brings extensive expertise in project management, turnkey solutions, international marketing and business operations. He has previously held leadership roles with L&T and the Maccaferri Group. He has also authored technical papers for national and international forums and has been associated with the International Geosynthetics Society (India Chapter).