Private capital bets on Indian recovery; investment plans hit record high in 2021-22

Gujarat, Tamil Nadu emerge top picks for private investments; manufacturing rebounds after years

India’s private sector bounced back sharply with major fresh investment plans on the drawing board in 2021-22, even as total investment project announcements hit a record level of ₹19.3 lakh crore in the year, almost 78% higher than pre-pandemic levels.

As per investment monitoring firm Projects Today’s latest survey, the private sector accounted for close to 69% of the proposed investments during the year, up sharply from pre-pandemic levels of about 49% in FY20 and just 30% in FY17 and FY18.

Despite a stated official push, public capex spending remained subdued, particularly among States, which could deter the execution of some of the proposed private investments.

As many as 4,745 new projects with a total investment commitment of ₹13,27,564 crore were announced by private players in the year, as much as 144.4% over FY20 levels. Private investment plans were spread across traditional sectors and sunrise industries such as green energy, electric vehicles, lithium batteries, data centres and warehousing, the Survey showed.

Terming the buoyancy in new project announcements over FY22 as a welcome development when the country badly needed huge capex spending to ensure a speedy, sustained economic recovery and more job openings, Projects Today director and CEO Shashikant Hegde said public spending needed to be ramped up urgently.

“The worrying factor is the slow pace of capex spending by the government sector, especially at the States level. Unless the government spending on infrastructure catches up fast, most of the private mega private projects will remain on the drawing board,” he told The Hindu.

The January-to-March quarter recorded a 32% jump in overall investment plans from the previous quarter, with 2,467 projects worth ₹5.46 lakh crore, compared to 2,719 new projects worth ₹4.14 lakh crore between October and December 2021.