Lustrum FY15-19 saw three-time increase in fresh investment

As per the Survey, during the five-year period FY15-19, 47,911 new projects were announced with a total investment of Rs 60,51,281 crore as against 43,876 new projects worth Rs 29,28,125 crore announced in the preceding five-year period FY10-14. This means, aggregate fresh projects investment increased by 106.7 percent during the two lustrums.

The buoyancy in the announcement of fresh investment was observed across all major sectors except Electricity, which saw absolute decline in a number of new projects and investment committed therein. While fresh investment increased by more than 100 percent in the Manufacturing, Mining, Infrastructure and Irrigation sectors, the Manufacturing and Irrigation sectors saw less number of new projects announced during the latest five-year period ending 31 March 2019.

Though the Manufacturing sector attracted 1,325 less projects during the FY15-19 period, thanks to increase in the number of mega projects (with cost of Rs 1,000 crore or more), total fresh investment swelled up by 130.5 percent from Rs 7,00,725 crore to Rs 16,15,456 crore. As a result, the share of Manufacturing in the total fresh investment increased from 23.9 percent in FY10-14 to 26.7 percent in FY15-19.

Among the sub-sectors, Fertilisers, Steel, Cement, Refinery and Electronics segments received increased fresh projects commitments during the FY15-19 period.

The FY15-19 period saw announcement of 253 mega projects. Of these, 218 were owned by private promoters. The preceding five-year period had seen announcement of 131 mega projects. While private-sponsored mega investment proposals were found in the Steel, Cement, Aluminium, Electronics, Automobiles sectors, the Government mega proposals were limited to the Steel, Petroleum and Fertiliser sectors.

While policy paralysis affected announcement of the Central government-sponsored projects severely during the last couple of years of UPA-II, the subsequent five years (FY15-19) saw the Central government committing more funds towards infrastructure projects. During FY15-19, 8,085 new projects worth Rs 19,96,162 crore were announced by the Central government-owned agencies. Most of the new investments were seen in the Railways, Roadways and Urban Infrastructure projects.

Similar buoyancy was seen at the state level too. During the FY15-19 period, 27,745 new projects worth Rs 17,18,275 crore were announced by state-owned agencies. The preceding five years had seen announcement of 22,697 new projects worth Rs 7,68,926 crore. At state level, fresh investments were seen in the Roadways, Community Services, Water Supply Schemes and Irrigation sectors.