New states get major share of project investments

Maharashtra has come up as the most favoured destination for projectinvestments in India, the study revealed. The state accounts for nearly 12 per cent of the total investments envisaged in India. According to the survey, Maharashtra not only leads in terms of total project investments but is also way ahead of other states in terms of the number of projects. Nearly half of the total investments envisaged in the state are under various stages of implementation.

Gujarat, which recently saw the revival of the Sardar Sarovar project, is a close second followed by Tamil Nadu. The survey was conducted across 4,848 live projects, entailing a total investment of Rs 14.8 trillion.

The power sector attracted the highest amount of investments. The study said that the 616 power projects accounted for nearly 37 per cent of the total investments envisaged in the country. Another 30 per cent was accounted by projects in the service and utility sector. The manufacturing sector accounted for just a little over one-fifth of the total investments.

Actual investments by the private sector gained in the post-liberalisation period. However, in terms of envisaged investments, the government still accounts for one-half of the planned project investments in the country. The 2,289 projects of public sector enterprise and agencies entail a total investment of Rs 7.4 trillion.

The bulk of the public sector investment is concentrated in refinery, pertochemicals, power and infrastructure projects. The successful implementation of these projects would depend on the budgetary support and the ability of the PSUs to raise the resources by themselves or to find a suitable private or foreign partner. The foreign companies account for just 10 per cent of the total investment planned in the country.