Fresh investment proposals announced in August 2008 indicated a fall of 30.7 per cent, when compared with July 2008 figures. As against 1,067 new projects worth Rs.68,260 crore announced in July 2008, about 1055 projects worth Rs.47,312 crore were announced in August 2008. Of the major sectors, a small increase in investment activities was observed only in the Services sector. Both Manufacturing and Power sectors witnessed around 50 per cent declines in fresh investment announcements.

The construction major, Jaypee Group announced Rs.6,500 crore capex plans in August 2008. Jaiprakash Associates, a group company, signed an MoU with the Madhya Pradesh state government to set up two cement units with 5 million tpa capacity each, in the state. The company has set aside Rs.2,000 crore for this venture. Apart from cement, the company has also expressed its intentions to set up a 2 lakh tpa alumina unit, a 1 lakh tpa aluminium unit and a 200 MW thermal based power unit in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, at an investment of Rs.3,500 crore. An independent coal based power project of 500 MW at Bina, Madhya Pradesh, is also a part of its capex plans.

When compared with July 2008 figures, the Power sector received considerably less fresh investment proposals. As against 42 new power projects worth Rs.23,617 crore announced in July 2008, only 24 new projects worth Rs.11,155 crore were announced in August. Of these, only five were of large size. These projects are:

Cement sector continued to receive fresh investment in August 2008 also. In all, 20 new projects with an aggregate capacity of 13.3 million tpa were announced. Among the 10 new projects, two were of large size - Jaiprakash Associates' 5 million tpa project and ABG Cement's 4 million tpa project.

Iron & Steel sector received 44 new proposals in August, in terms of committed investment at Rs.4,023 crore, as against Rs.19,210 crore investment commitments received in July 2008. Further, of the 44 projects, only two were of large size. The first large project was by Bharat Forge to set up a 15,000 tpa forgings unit either at Visakhapatnam or in Gujarat, at an investment of Rs.1,200 crore. The second proposal was by Harshit Iron & Steel to set up five stainless steel plants with a capacity of 1.50 lakh tpa each, at Orissa, Karnataka, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, by investing an estimated total of Rs.500 crore.

In the Construction sector, around 78 new commercial complexes and shopping malls were announced across India. In addition, ProjectsToday also collected information on 220 Real Estate projects.

Aeren R Enterprises announced the most ambitious project of the month. It proposes to set up:

In the Services sector, 19 new hotels and 17 new hospitals were announced. Of these, Emaar MGF's hotel-cum-shopping mall in Lucknow comprising of a 350-room five-star hotel with and a five screen multiplex, was the largest investment proposal.

ProjectsToday also collected information on 10 SEZs: