T

hanks to the six mega projects announced by the public sector units, the fresh investment in November regained the momemtum seen startups in August and September 2012.

According to ProjectsToday database, a total of 667 projects worth Rs 42,322 crore were announced in November 2012. This figures indicated an upturn in projex activities when compared with October 2012 project statistics. In October, the country had seen announcement of 580 projects worth Rs 26,616 crore. Out of the total 667 projects, 538 projects were startups worth Rs 36,959 crore, 113 were renovation and modernisation projects and 16 intended capacity expansion of existing units. Further, of the 667 projects, the promoters of 380 projects have not yet firmed up the costs of their projects. Most of these projects are in the Real Estate sector. An elevated railway line to be buit between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) - Panvel near Mumbai at a cost of Rs 13,502 crore was the largest project announced in November. The project is promoted by Mumbai Railway Vikas Corpn.

Among the major sectors, Services & Utilities (Infrastructure) topped the investment chart with 543 projects worth Rs 25,915 crore and accounted for around 61 per cent of the total fresh investment announced in November 2012. Apart from the elevated railway line project, some of the mega projects announced in this sector were a Rs 3,500 crore industrial estate by Pradip Overseas in Gujarat and a Rs 1,090 crore Dimapur-Kohima road upgradation project by NHAI in Nagaland. A Rs 2,750 crore boiler and turbine manufacturing units by BGR Energy in collaboration with Hitachi in Tamil Nadu and two mega cement projects - one by JSW and another by Siddhi Vinayak Cement helped the Manufacturing sector to record a 143 per cent growth in fresh investment on a M-o- M basis.

While JSW is setting up a 4.3 million tpa cement plant at Chitapur in Karnataka, Siddhi Vinayak Cement along is setting up a 1.48 million tpa clinker unit and a 25 MW captive power project to support the cement plant. The Mining Sector attracted new investment of Rs 3,202 crore in the form of 10 projects. Bulk of the fresh investment emanated in this sector was accounted by the Rs 3,000 crore Eklama iron ore mining project in Chhattisgarh by Steel Authority of India Ltd.

Reasoning for the low new investment in the coal mining sector, Arup Roy Choudhury, CH & MD, NTPC recently stated "Environment clearances, land acquisition should be done beforehand; otherwise companies may not be interested in bidding for those blocks." Twenty four new power projects and 12 new power distribution lines saw the Electricity sector attracting around Rs 4,250 crore. A Rs 1000 crore 100 MW solar based power unit of Welspun Energy and a Rs 838 crore Srinagar-Kashipur transmission line project were the two mega projects seen in this sector in November 2012. A Rs 2,670 crore Yettinahole irrigation project in Karnataka was the largest irrigation project announced in the month. Among the states, Maharashtra attracted the highest number of new projects. In all 150 new projects worth Rs 14,483.52 crore were announced in the state during November. The state was followed by Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu in the investment chart. Together the top six states managed to attract around 76 per cent of the total investment.

After nearly six month, the government sector overtook the private sector and accounted for around 64 per cent of the fresh projex emanated in November. The 294 government projects are expected to bring in projex worth Rs 26,897 crore. The private sector with 373 projects is expected to bring in fresh investment of Rs 15,424 crore.