Transport infrastructure and manufacturing sector: an energy perspective from India

Purpose The purpose of this study is to dissect the transport infrastructure performance, public spending in transport infrastructure development and the manufacturing sector in determining the transport sector energy consumption. Design/methodology/approach An analysis of transport energy consumption with the transport infrastructure performance, public spending in transport infrastructure and manufacturing sector output in India using annual data for the period 1987–2019. The study used the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test approach along with FMOLS, DOLS and canonical cointegration regression (CCR) methods. Findings The results of the ARDL bounds test provide evidence for the long- and short-run relationships among study variables. It evidenced that transport infrastructure performance reduces transport energy consumption by using FMOLS, DOLS and CCR methods. Furthermore, the inference of the positive impact of value added in the manufacturing sector on transport energy consumption validates the higher energy demand of the manufacturing sector from a mobility perspective. Practical implications The estimated finding of this study is expected to be contributing to policy-making discussions on transport infrastructure and manufacturing sector development in an emerging economy like India with insights on energy consumption. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that integrates the impact of manufacturing sector output on transport sector energy consumption along with transport infrastructure performance and public investment in the transport infrastructure.