Not good news ahead of polls: Fresh investments in India at 14-year low, says report

New Delhi, Jan 3: This is one news that will not excite supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a leader who is seen as one who prioritises economic reforms. According to a report in Livemint published on Thursday (January 3), investments in India in the just concluded December quarter fell to a 14-year low, new data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed. It was also said that Indian firms announced new projects worth Rs 1 trillion in the December quarter which is 53 per cent lower than that announced in the September quarter and 55 per cent lower than the corresponding time in the previous year.

"The sequential decline in capex announcements was led by a sharp decline in new project announcements by the private sector. New private sector projects fell 62% in the just-ended December quarter compared with the September quarter, and 64% compared with the December quarter of FY18," the Livemint report said.

New projects in the public sector also went down compared to the September quarter of Fiscal Year 2019. Fresh investment announcements in the public sector fell 37 per cent on quarter and 41 per cent on year to Rs 50,604 crore, the lowest level since December 2004.

The fall in fresh investments was across all major sectors with the only exception being the construction sector.

Factors like bad debt, growing policy uncertainties and lack of progress in clearing the stalled projects seem to have taken a toll on the industry's momentum.