PTI
New Delhi: India’s power sector has cornered a lion’s share in the Rs633,906 crore investment announced by corporates during January-June 2008, industry body Assocham has said.
Of the investments tracked by the industry body during the first half of calendar year 2008, the energy sector attracted 18.64% at Rs195,913 crore. Power majors like Tata Power, Sterlite Industries, Jindal India Thermal Power and Lanco Group are among the corporates that have lined up big investments in the sector.
The other major sectors attracting huge investments, included real estate, steel, retail and telecom.
Undaunted by the high interest rates, the real estate sector ranked second in terms of flow of funds, attracting 14.38% of investments at Rs151,084 crore for the next 2-5 years.
The firms unveiling investment included Omaxe Ltd, Uppal Group Developers and Mahindra World City.
Steel sector followed with investment announcements worth Rs108,609 crore accounting for 10.33% of total capital expenditure tracked by the study. “The sector attracted investments from steel majors like Vedanta Resources, Tata Steel, Bhushan Steel and JSW Steel,” Assocham President Sajjan Jindal said.
With the retail sector growing at an estimated 25%, corporate retailers and real estate developers like Reliance Retail, Parsvanath Developers and Videocon Industries announced investments worth Rs89,200 crore for January-June 2008 accounting for 8.24%.
Telecom boom
Aggressive marketing and falling tariffs by major telecom players like Reliance Communication, Aircel and Quippo Telecom Infrastructure contributed to the boom in the sector, which attracted investments of Rs89,100 crore.
Oil majors Hindujas, ONGC, Reliance Industries and OIC announced plans worth Rs88,790 crore during the first half of 2008 for setting up refineries and expansion of pipeline to increase oil production over the next 2-5 years.
Likewise, with a number of auto companies announcing substantial capacity expansion as well as investments in R&D, the sector attracted investments worth Rs49,529 crore for the next 2-8 years. Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Fiat India, Mahindra and Mahindra led the pack in lining up investments.
Taking advantage of skilled and low cost workforce, IT firms lined up Rs39,654 crore capital expenditure plans during January-June 2008 for expansion, upgradation and setting up of IT parks and software development centres over the next 2-10 years.
Construction and manufacturing sector announced investments of Rs36,790 crore for the next 2-5 years, while ports and shipping sector attracted inflows of Rs30,690 crore by companies like Essar Shipping Ports, Jindal Saw (JSL), Shipping Corporation of India and JSW Infrastructure.
The other sectors that saw investment announcements during the period under review were hospitality (Rs 23,340 crore), aviation (Rs 20,890 crore), engineering (Rs 7,435 crore), consumer durables (Rs 6,000 crore), pharma (Rs 4,475 crore) and education (Rs 2,796 crore).