Maharashtra remains numero uno for investment

In overall terms, however, CMIE’s Monthly Review of Investment Projects, out today shows that outstanding investments have fallen marginally as compared to the last survey in April.

More worrying, however, is a sharp fall in the outstanding investments in the manufacturing sector. As a proportion of the total, investment in manufacturing has fallen from 28 per cent in January 1999 to 22 per cent today. In January 1999, total outstanding investment in manufacturing stood at Rs 3,62,392 crore and this fell to Rs 2,96,916 crore in July 2000.

The power sector remains the most prefered choice of investment, and accounts for around 40 per cent of all investment on hand and that proposed by companies.

Interestingly, the CMIE shows that the total number of projects being dropped is falling — as compared to January 1999 when 62.5 per cent of projects were dropped at some point during implementation, the figure today is down to around 57 per cent. In keeping with the overall decline in the manufacturing sector, the rate of implementation in this sector has declined consistently though.

Equally disturbing is the composition of the investment taking place. According to CMIE, a little over 51 per cent of this outstanding investment is being done by the government, and the balance 48 per cent by the private sector. This is almost the reverse of the picture in January 1999 — in other words, private investment appears to have slowed down despite the opening up of the economy.