In July 2010, 730 startups entailing a total investment of Rs 20,792 crore were announced. Though in terms of total number of fresh investment the month saw 37 more new projects, the aggregate investment envisaged by the 730 startups was 40 per cent lower than such investment observed in June 2010. In fact, the total investment proposed by the new projects in July was one of the lowest monthly fresh investment recorded in the last couple of years.

On the brighter side, the Manufacturing sector saw a couple of mega projects being announced in the Fertilisers, Electronics and Automobile sectors. Among the major sectors, the Manufacturing sector bagged the largest portion (45 per cent) of the fresh investment. In all, 134 projects worth Rs 9,552 crore were announced in this sector. Services & Utilities and Electricity sectors followed with 518 projects worth Rs 6,616 crore and 56 projects worth Rs 4,537 crore respectively.

Some of the large projects announced in the Manufacturing sector were

Out of five sugar projects announced in July 2010, Daya Engineering Works' (Sleeper) expansion of sugar capacity from 3,500 to 7,500 tccpd at Gagalher in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh was one of the significant projects.

While Textiles sector saw 18 new startups at a total outlay of Rs 539 crore, the Food sector attracted 22 new projects worth Rs 290 crore. SEL Manufacturing Company's cotton yarn unit project with a capacity of 3.5 lakh spindles at Metwada Village, Ashta in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh was the largest textile project announced in the recent past.

In the Services and Utilities sector, barring the Roadways and Industrial Parks all other sub sectors received less dose of fresh investment when Fresh investment slid in July compared to June 2010 statistics. At the state levels, Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, etc announced a number of road upgradation projects during the month.

The Nation's highway builder NHAI announced two new highways projects - two/four-laning of Kota- Jhalawar section of NH-12 in Rajasthan, under NHDP-III with an investment of Rs 510.14 crore and two-laning of Piprakathi - Raxaul section and Raxaul bypassof NH-28A in Bihar under NHDP Phase-III at an investment of Rs 375.09 crore.

Of the 56 new Electricity projects announced in July 2010, very few promoters seem to have their execution plans ready. Some of the big ticket projects announced in the Electricity Sector were

The Mining sector attracted 10 new projects during July 2010. LAS Mining proposed to take up two coal mining projects in West Bengal - one with a capacity of 6.1 million tpa in Purulia district and the other with a capacity of two million tpa in Bardhaman district.

In the Hospitals sector, National Rural Health Mission, Assam, is setting up 22 community health centers across the state at a cumulative investment of Rs 80.38 crore. Some of these centers are planned at Duni, Kalabari, Kuwaripukhuri, Laharighat etc.

During July, Starwood Hotels & Resorts announced 11 hotel projects across Gujarat, Chandigarh, Karnataka, Punjab, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The company plans to set up five-star hotels in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Chandigarh at an investment of Rs 100 crore each.

Within the Construction sector, bulk of the fresh investment found its way into the Industrial Parks and three new SEZs. Among the 11 new parks proposed, a Rs 238-crore Bengaluru Business Park of Embassy Property Developers was the largest and among the new Real Esate projects, a Rs 350-crore Residential Complex of Puravankara Projects in Bengaluru was the largest. Another notable project in this sector was announced by Oragadam City Developer. The company proposed to set up residential complex comprising 4,000 dwellings units with G+1 floor including various modern amenities like school, shopping mall and medical facilities at Oragadam in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu.

The three new SEZ projects were