
The week in charts: Weak capex, FPI stress, consumption cracks

Summary
- Every week, Plain Facts publishes a compilation of data-based insights, with easy-to-read charts, to help you delve deeper into the stories reported by Mint in the week gone by.
Indian companies are approaching 2025 with caution, as investment trends show a mix of recovery and sluggishness in the latest quarters. Additionally, the weakening rupee has impacted foreign portfolio investors' dollar returns. Meanwhile, a new government survey shows paltry growth in consumption expenditure.
Capex contraction
New project announcements by Indian companies have slowed significantly, with the amount declining 22% year-on-year and 16% quarter-on-quarter to ₹6 trillion, data from the project-tracking database of Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed. Both government and private companies reduced their investment proposals. For the first nine months of 2024-25, new projects totalled ₹15.6 trillion, down 27% compared to the same period last year.
Manufacturing sector showed mixed results, but construction and real estate segments recorded a 65% drop in new project announcements.
Silent toll
The rupee's steady slide against the US dollar has dampened foreign portfolio investors' (FPIs) returns in India, despite the local currency being among the least impacted globally. The BSEDollex 30, the dollar-equivalent of the Sensex, recorded a return of 5% in 2024, lagging behind the Sensex's 8.16%. The rupee depreciated nearly 3% last year even as the interventions by the helped limit the decline compared to other currencies.
The trend is likely to continue this year as well as uncertainty is high amid expectations of higher protectionism under the incoming Donald Trump-led administration.
Rejig plan
$2 billion: Is the amount Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) will raise by exiting its 26-year joint venture with Singapore's Wilmar Group. AEL will sell its entire 43.94% stake in Adani Wilmar Ltd. Of this, 31.06% of it will go to Wilmar International and the remaining will be offered to the public. Currently, public shareholders hold just 12.13% of Adani Wilmar.
The proceeds from the exit will be reinvested into AEL’s core infrastructure sectors, including energy, utilities, and transport.
Consumption cracks
Consumption expenditure in India has shown modest growth, with rural per capita spending reaching ₹4,122 (up 9.3%) and urban spending at ₹6,996 (up 8.3%) in the latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (August 2023–July 2024). However, when adjusted for inflation, the growth in consumption was only 3.5% in both rural and urban areas.
As food inflation remained high during the period, growth in expenditure on food items outpaced the overall rise at current prices. This led to a rise in share of spending on food in 2023-24, marginally reversing the declining trend.
Also read: Consumption data lays bare India’s deep inequality—and leaves behind a big question
Chugging along
India's infrastructure output, which makes up about two-fifth of industrial production, surged to a four-month high in November, with six of eight core sectors showing growth. The index of core industries rose 4.3% year-on-year in November, up from 3.7% in October.
Despite this uptick, the average growth for the first eight months of the fiscal year was 4.3%, lower than last year's 8.7%. Sectors like coal, steel, cement, fertilisers, electricity, and refinery products grew, while crude oil and natural gas declined.
Surplus cash
₹1 trillion: Is the excess cash that top Indian companies are holding, according to an analysis by proxy advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS). The report highlights that 66 of the BSE 500 companies collectively held ₹2.7 trillion in cash and equivalents at the end of FY24, with nearly ₹1 trillion remaining unallocated for any purpose. IiAS suggests returning these funds to shareholders through dividends or buybacks.
IT heavyweights HCL Technologies, Bharat Electronics, LTIMindtree, Siemens, and Sun TV lead with ₹46,870 crore in cash, including ₹32,540 crore in excess.
Shrinking headcount
India’s public sector banks recorded the lowest employee count in 13 years in 2023-24. The staff number has steadily declined since FY17 and was 756,015 in FY24, according to the data from the Reserve Bank of India. Over the past seven years, public sector banks lost about 12% of their workforce, shedding more than 100,000 employees even as staff across the country's banking sector increased by nearly half a million. While headcount at public sector banks has declined, private sector banks doubled their staff count.
Chart of the week: Judicial efficiency
In a first for Indian courts, the number of cases disposed of in a year has exceeded the number of pending cases, data from the National Judicial Data Grid showed. In 2024, for every case disposed of by the district courts, high courts and the Supreme Court, there were 0.79 pending matters, compared with 2.38 in 2023.
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