Corporate investment may dip in FY 2014: RBI

The Reserve Bank today said corporate investments are likely to remain subdued this fiscal and may even fall below the level seen last year.

"The envisaged investment by the private corporate sector this fiscal is expected to be lower than that in the previous year," the RBI said in its monthly bulletin for September released late this evening.

However, the central bank did not put a number to the likely investment intentions by companies this year. Corporate investments in the last fiscal stood at Rs 2,63,400 crore.

The report captures the capital expenditure intentions of the companies in private and joint business sectors, the bulletin said. It may be noted that delays in various clearances have held up over 210 large projects with an estimated investment of over Rs 11 trillion.

The Cabinet Committee on Investment has so far cleared projects worth about Rs 2.5 trillion. RBI said cost of projects, which were sanctioned institutional assistance during FY 2013, rose to Rs 1,96,300 crore from last fiscal's Rs 1,91,600 crore. If one adds the external commercial borrowings of Rs 66,000 crore and Rs 1,100 crore raised through equity issues, the investment intentions during FY 2013 are at an estimated Rs 2,63,400 crore, the RBI said, without giving a projection on the likely figure in FY14.

In FY 2013, Odisha was the most preferred state for investments followed by Maharashtra and Punjab, the RBI said. Maharashtra's share in total cost of projects declined in FY13 compared with the previous year. Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu also faced similar fates, it said.