Roads, power investments rise

New projects worth Rs. 1.2 lakh crore were announced in the first quarter of financial year 2015-16, up 48 per cent from the same period the previous year, analysis by The Hindu shows.

Projects worth Rs. 1.5 lakh crore were completed in the first quarter of this year, up by 31 per cent over last year.

Over the last week, the government has gone to great lengths to convey its success in getting stalled projects moving and also in boosting new investments, notably in the road sector.

The road transport sector has indeed seen a sharp growth in investment since the Modi government has come to power. The first quarter (April-June) of the current financial year shows a 73 per cent increase in the value of new project announcements in the road transport sector compared to the same period the previous year.

The sector has performed well in this regard even looking at a larger time-frame. While the total value of new projects announced in 2014-15 — the first year of the Modi government — was up 77 per cent over the previous year, this figure was up 185 per cent for road transport and allied services.

Electricity generation, another sector that is critical for the Prime Minister’s Make in India programme, has seen a similar boost in investment.

New projects announced in the first quarter of this financial year were up nearly 500 per cent in value over the first quarter of the previous year.

Looking at the entire year, the electricity generation sector saw a whopping 500 per cent increase in the value of new projects announced in 2014-15 compared to the previous year.

While this can in part be explained by a low base effect (investment in the sector in the first quarter of 2013-14 was at a multi-year low), the value in 2014-15 was also 173 per cent higher than that two years ago.

The sector has not only seen an increase in new projects being announced but also in the projects being completed.

The total value of revived projects in 2014-15, at around Rs. 1.9 lakh crore, is almost the same as that achieved in the previous three years combined.

Source: The Hindu