The on-going general elections and the prevailing model code of conduct have forced the state and central government agencies to hold back the announcement of their fresh investment plans.

As a result, in April 2009, the number of new projects announced by the state and central government agencies tumbled by 66 per cent in terms of number of projects and by 89 per cent in terms of fresh investment. Though, the private sector, by and large, maintained its investment activities at last month’s level, it could not prevent a sharp fall in the overall investment activities in April. As against 841 new projects worth Rs 71,933 crore announced in March 2009, in April only 450 projects worth Rs 37,731 crore were announced. Nearly 90 per cent of the fresh investment announced in April 2009 was by private companies.

Fresh investment activities by the private sector after hitting low notes between October 2008 and February 2009, showed some signs of revival in March 2009. The month had seen announcement of some big ticket projects. April saw continuation of that trend. In all, the private sector announced 259 new projects worth Rs 33,649 crore. In March, 280 new private projects worth Rs 32,532 crore were announced.

Further, of the 12 mega projects (investment of Rs 1,000 crore or more) announced in April 2009, eleven were by the private sector.In the preceding month, of the 17 mega projects announced only six were by the private sector.

Reflecting the dominance of the private sector, manufacturing accounted for nearly one-third of the fresh investment proposed in April 2009. Private sector investments were spread across Sugar, Cement and Steel sectors. Of the seven Sugar projects announced in April, the Rs 180 crore sugar expansion-cum -power project of Haryana Cooperative Sugar Mills was the largest. The company intends to expand its cane crushing capacity from 1,750 tccpd to 3,500 tccpd and add a 16 MW bagasse based power unit at its Rohtak sugar mill in Haryana. Another notable project in this sector was of Samrudhi Sugars. The company is expanding its Ghansawangi sugar mill (Jalna district) capacity from 2,500 tccpd to 3,500 tccpd. The project also includes setting up of a 20 MW co-generation power unit.

The spurt seen in announcement of new cement projects since February 2009, continued through out April. In all, seven new projects entailing a total investment of over Rs 4,000 crore were announced during the month. ACC, Abhijeet Cement and Adhunik Corporation announced Rs 1,000 crore plus investment plans.

Though the Iron and Steel sector saw announcement of around 40 new projects, most of the projects were of small size. The 40 projects entailed a total investment of Rs 1,657 crore.

The private sector also dominated the Electricity sector in April 2009. Of the 41 new projects announced, 33 were by private power developers. Some of the large projects announced during the month are

The Construction sector saw announcement of 18 new Commercial Complexes and Shopping Malls, 7 Hospitals, 5 Hotels and around 89 Real Estate projects.

Among the Real Estate projects, prominent one was by BSCPL Infrastructure. The Chennai based company plans to construct a residential complex 'Bollineni Hillside' off Mahabalipuram Road in Chennai. The project will spread over 92 acres of land and will comprise 64 buildings of G+4 floors with 1,000 flats and 300 villas.

The largest investment proposal in the Hospital sector was by Bidar Institute of Medical Science for setting up a 250 bed hospital in Bidar district of Karnataka. Among the new hotels announced, the 250 rooms hotel in Hyderabad by TRAC India and a similar sized hotel by Convention Hotels in Bangalore were noteworthy.

In April 2009, the Karaikal Port Ltd, a subsidiary of Marg Construction, announced the commencement of the Phase II of Karaikal port project in Tamil Nadu. During this Phase around Rs 1,600 crore will be invested to mechanise the port and increase the draft to 16.5 mtrs. On completion of this phase, the port capacity will rise from 4 million tonne to 25 million tonne.

New projects announcement by public sector units during May 2009 also is expected to remain a lowkey affair as the election process is expected to continue till mid-May 2009.