AP, Guj & Odisha lead in investment proposals

New Delhi Manufacturing sector registered an impressive surge in February with 107 industrial entrepreneurs memorandum (IEMs) being filed with the total proposed investment of Rs28,449 crore. This was over 71 per cent more than the total investment worth Rs16,590-crore proposed in February 2022.

Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat were the leading states in terms of proposed investment of Rs6,312 crore, Rs5,355 crore and Rs3,225 crore, respectively, during February, official sources told Bizz Buzz.

The fertilizer, fermentation, and metallurgical industries attracted most investment proposals—Rs5,611 crore, Rs1,741 crore and Rs1,490 crore, respectively.

This is also a big jump month-on-month basis, as the long-ailing manufacturing sector in January got 109 Part-A filings of IEMs with the proposed total investment of Rs10,565 crore, as Bizz Buzz reported earlier. IEM Part-A filings indicate intentions of industrial investment. Part-B filings mean actual investment.

We will have to wait for a few months to find if the upturn is on a sustained basis or a sudden upsurge.

It may be recalled that there were 1,185 Part-A filings of IEMs worth Rs424,101 in 2022 in the country, down from 1,489 filings worth Rs771,428 crore in 2021.

Keen to boost manufacturing, the Narendra Modi government launched the ‘Make in India’ initiative in 2014. Make in India, says a government website, recognizes ‘ease of doing business’ as the single-most important factor to promote entrepreneurship.

A number of initiatives, including production-linked incentive or PLI schemes, have already been undertaken to improve the business environment. “The aim is to de-license and de-regulate the industry during the entire life cycle of a business,” the website says.

Availability of modern and facilitating infrastructure is a very important requirement for the growth of industry, the website says. The government intends to develop industrial corridors and smart cities to provide infrastructure based on state-of-the-art technology with modern high-speed communication and integrated logistic arrangements.