January 2012 opened with an upsurge in the fresh projex (projects investment) activities. During the month, a total of 657 startups were announced with the combined investment of Rs 27,790 crore. Although January saw 61 less new projects as against December 2011, in terms of aggregate investment the month attracted 75 per cent more than the total investment of Rs 15,868 crore seen in the month of December. However, it is to be noted that, of the total new projects, the promoters of 372 projects were yet to finalise the actual investment figures.

Continuing the trend of the last month, during January 2012 too, the Services & Utilities Sector topped the investment chart. The sector attracted 485 new projects envisaging a total outlay of Rs 13,858 crore. The sector managed to attract approximately 50 per cent share of the entire projex announced during the month. The Real Estate was the main driver among the sub-sectors and accounted for 174 projects with a total investment of Rs 926 crore. The sector saw three mega projects. The first one was by GAIL. The company intends to set up a giant LNG terminal at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore in Andhra Pradesh. NHAI's Rs 2,525 crore Road Upgradation (Amravati-Jalgaon) Project and a Superspeciality Hospital (Byculla) Project of Sir J. J. Hospital worth Rs 690 crore were the other two big ticket projects announced in the sector.

Close on the heels of the Services sector was the Electricity sector. The sector saw fresh investment of Rs 11,405 crore spread over 33 new projects. New Power projects accounted for 41 per cent of the total investment during the month. Despite the uncertainty over the availability of local coal, Indian promoter’s willingness to invest in this sector became evident in the form of 13 new projects with an investment of Rs 10,375 crore. The sector saw announcement of a Rs 10,000 crore investment plan of the GVK Group. It has proposed to set up a 2,400 MW Coal based power plant in Andhra Pradesh. Commenting on the project, G V Sanjay Reddy, Vice-Chairman, GVK Group said "We are yet to work on the modes of funding and completing other required formalities. We are just signing the MoU with the government and the details would be worked out over the next one year,". In the Non-Conventional sector, NTPC has plans to set 50 MW Solar based power project in Madhya Pradesh at an outlay of Rs 700 crore.

The Manufacturing sector registered fresh investment of Rs 2,200 crore across 122 new projects. In the Irrigation sector, six new projects (half of which to be implemented in Andhra Pradesh) were announced across India with an investment of Rs 327 crore. However, the Mining sector registered a dismal performance during the month. Only five new projects were announced in the sector and the cost of these is yet to be finalised.

Among the states, Andhra Pradesh topped the investment chart with an investment of Rs 16,306 crore in 53 new projects. The state accounted for 59 per cent of the total investment as two big ticket projects will be implemented in the state with a combined investment of Rs 15,000 crore. Maharashtra ranked second with 121 new projects with an investment of Rs 3,819 crore.

Around 325 new projects worth Rs 13,925 crore announced by the government sector, majority of which (286 projects) will be owned by state government agencies. However, in the private sector, domestic companies dominated the chart with the combined investment of Rs 13,465 crore across 323 new projects. Inclusive of foreign investment, the private sector came up with 332 new projects worth Rs 13,865 crore during the month.