India Inc on expansion drive
By Our Corporate Bureau | 27 May 2004
Mumbai: India Inc is on an expansion drive. Investments in new projects have grown by 8.54 per cent or Rs125,181 crores in the last 12 months. Besides new capacities being added, companies have revived some of the projects, which had earlier been shelved during fiscal 2003-04.
According to the data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, (CMIE) the total new investments, at different stages of implementation, have risen to Rs1,590,057 crore in April 2004, compared to Rs1,464,876 crore a year ago.
The big surge in total investment is mainly on account of new capacities being added by the manufacturing sector, especially non-ferrous metals, pharmaceuticals, organic chemicals, automobiles, electronics and fertilisers.
In the last 12 months, investments in new projects by the manufacturing sector jumped by Rs47,870 crore to Rs331,357 crore. The comparative figure last year was Rs 2,83,487 crore. However, fresh investments in industries like petroleum products, cotton textiles, cement and electrical machinery have declined.
According to the CMIE's review of investment projects, the ferrous metals industry had 170 new investments, including 26 projects worth Rs1,259 crore, which were revived, amounting to an investment of Rs21,417 crore over the last one year.
In the non-ferrous industry, 15 new projects worth Rs10,734 crores have been announced. Five projects worth Rs 10,284 crores have been announced in the last three months. The steel industry has shown a 59 per cent rise in new projects, with 63 projects worth Rs15,833 crore being planned in the past 12 months.
Industries like pharmaceuticals, organic chemcials, automobiles and electronics have shown a modest rise of 10-25 per cent in new investments.
On the infrastructure front, the power generation sector has seen 234 new projects worth Rs 36,683 crore being announced in the last 12 months. In addition, 32 projects amounting to Rs20,898 crore have been revived. The road sector saw the announcement of 741 new projects amounting to Rs9,883 crore. The service sector has shown a 5.5 per cent rise in new investments.