As India nears the end of the world’s largest election, which began last month, Mr. Modi is confronting anger over his failure to deliver on the promise that brought him to office — economic revitalization.

The prime minister has drawn praise for paring India’s legendary bureaucracy. He has altered perceptions that his country was hostile to business. But he has failed to spur significant economic growth, in part because of his disappointing record in reviving stalled infrastructure projects. The prime minister has championed rail, road and electrical links as a means of furthering development across this country of 1.3 billion people.

Although road-building has proceeded aggressively, infrastructure over all has fallen short. During the last three months of 2018, investments in new projects slumped to their lowest level during Mr. Modi’s tenure, according to the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, an independent research organization in Mumbai.

“The fall after 2016 has been quite severe,” says Mahesh Vyas, the center’s managing director. “He thought he could solve all those things with a magical wand.”