The first month of 2010 saw two major states - Karnataka and Orissa clearing some high ticket projects. In the first week of January, the State High-Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC) of Karnataka accorded in-principle approvals to 38 projects with a total investment of Rs 1,38,323 crore.

Some of the projects cleared by the Committee are

Fresh investmetns declinines

Despite a number of economic indicators indicating signs of revival in the economy since November 2009, the new projects arena did not see much action in January 2010. The month saw announcement of 650 new projects envisaging a total investment of Rs 25,083 crore. Both the public sector and the private sector failed to maintain the tempo of announcement of fresh investment proposals witnessed in the last quarter of the calendar year 2009.

Among the major sectors, the Mining sector was the only sector which recorded positive growth on month on month basis. The sector, which had not seen any major project announcements since July 2009, saw seven startups worth Rs 1,542 crore being announced. Of this, two projects of Singareni Collieries Co. in Andhra Pradesh were of mega size. The company intends to undertake coal mining with a capacity of 2.81 million tpa from underground shaft at Adriyala, Godavarikhani in Karimnagar with an investment of Rs 846 crore and set up a coal handling plant with a capacity of three million tpa for evacuation of its coal produced from Goleti group of mines near Asifabad Road Railway Station in Adilabad on turnkey basis.

But for a couple of Cement and Steel projects the M-o-M fall in the Manufacturing sector would have been sharper. The month saw announcement of eight new Cement projects and 27 new Steel projects. Tata Sponge Iron's integrated steel unit with a capacity of 1.50 million tpa at Joda in Keonjhar district of Orissa with an investment of Rs 3,100 crore was the largest project announced during the month. The High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) of Orissa accorded its approval for the project. Further, of the eight new cement projects, Grasim Industries' 5.5 million tpa cement project along with 3.5 million tpa clinker unit in Kachchh, Gujarat, was the largest.

The Electricity sector saw 42 new projects worth Rs 3,573 crore. Of these, the following were of large size:

Despite a fall in number of new projects, the Services sector accounted for around 40 per cent of the total fresh investment announced in January 2010.

Among the new infrastructure projects, Hindustan Petroleum Corpn's Uran-Chakan-Shikrapur LPG pipeline project in Maharashtra was the most ambitious one. On 16 January 2010, HPCL invited bids for the survey and engineering project management consultant for the proposed pipeline. In addition to this, 145 roadways, 39 water supply schemes and 107 Other Community Services (hostels, school buildings etc) were announced across the country.

In the Construction sector, around 25 new commercial complexes and shopping malls and 15 hotels were announced across India. In addition, 112 new Real Estate projects were announced across major cities. Among this, the most ambitious one was by Niho Construction's township in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore. The township, spread over 100 acre, comprises 12 towers of G+10 floors with 1,500 apartments and a commercial complex including various modern amenities. As against 539 projects worth Rs 14,998 crore announced in December 2009, 464 projects entailing a total investment of Rs 10,152 crore were announced in January 2010.

During the month following three SEZs were announced: