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Journalism of Courage
Who says there’s a slowdown? At least not in new project investments. There were 7,273 projects envisaging a total investment of Rs 18,06,977 crore by March 2003. Compared with March 2002, while the number of projects grew by 2.2 per cent from 6,894, outstanding investment increased appreciably by 5.7 per cent from Rs 17,10,130 crore.
This was the main finding of the Tenth Survey of Projects Investment capturing the projects investment scenario as of March 31, 2003, done by Mumbai-based Projects Today.
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Maharashtra tops
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| MUMBAI: Maharashtra continued to wield its traditional dominance in projects investments. As of March 2003, the state ranked first with projects investment of Rs 1,94,911 crore accounting for 10.8% of the total investment. Gujarat ranked second with projects investment of Rs 162,921 crore representing 8.9% of the country’s total, as of March 2003. AP, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu — occupied the third, fourth and fifth rank respectively. |
According to the survey, the 5.7 per cent year-on-year increase was concentrated mainly in the first half (4.2 per cent). Growth in projects investment slowed down in the second half to 1.4 per cent.
Central government entities strengthened their grip on projects investment, with their share increasing from 58.9 per cent in March 2002 to 61.5 per cent in March 2003. Overall projects implementation improved marginally from 37.3 per cent in March 2002 to 38.9 per cent in March 2003.
Of the Rs 18,06,977 crore worth of projects investment envisaged, Rs 703,145 crore was under active implementation (under execution or partially completed).
Of this actual investment, four industries — irrigation, thermal power, telecommunication services and hydel power — accounted for 47.5 per cent, with respective shares of 18 per cent, 14 per cent, 10.8 per cent and 9.7 per cent. ‘Between April 2002 and March 2003, 588 projects worth Rs 60,135 crore that fructified were: NTPC’s 1000 MW Simhadri Thermal Power Project in AP, constructed at a cost of Rs 4,231 crore and the Rs 3,100 crore expansion project of Talcher-Kolar power transmission by Power Grid Corporation of India,’ the survey said. Around 70 projects worth Rs 62,000 crore were either stalled or abandoned. “Overall investment in manufacturing sector increased from Rs 2,89,833 crore in March 2002 to Rs 3,02,171 crore in March 2003, albeit at a rate lower than the 5.7 per cent rise in overall projects investment. The manufacturing sector suffered a slowdown in project implementation ratio’’, the study showed.
