New Delhi, Oct. 31 -- India is entering another major investment cycle. Steel plants are expanding, data centres are scaling, aerospace manufacturing is deepening. But the biggest capital-allocation question facing CFOs may not be how much to build, it may be whether building more is actually the best way to create the next unit of value.

The distinction matters. India's 1,775 centrally monitored infrastructure projects were sitting on a cumulative cost overrun of Rs.3.41 trillion as of July 2026. A 2020 BCG study found that only around 30% of transformation programmes fully met their targets.

These are not stories of failed execution. They are stories of capital that was deployed, projects that were delivered, and value that still fell...