Andhra Pradesh, Punjab see nearly 40% rise in fixed assets in 2022-23

Capital formation rises in informal enterprises

Informal sector units witnessed a rise in capital formation in 2022-23, with Andhra Pradesh and Punjab leading the charge, a Moneycontrol analysis of survey data released by the government on July 5 showed.

While average fixed assets owned by an establishment across the country rose 13 percent in 2022-23, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab witnessed nearly a 40 percent jump during this period.

Informal units are proprietorships or partnerships not registered under the Companies Act.

The data will likely be used by the government to help determine calculations for the new GDP series.

Of the 19 major states for which data was considered, eight saw their assets rise by over 20 percent, while four—Kerala, Delhi, Odisha, and Rajasthan—witnessed their asset value per establishment decline.

The net addition to fixed assets over the last 365 days more than doubled to Rs 12,349 per establishment compared with Rs 5,266 during this period.

The rise was 10 times for Andhra Pradesh and nearly eight times for Punjab.

Bihar witnessed a 50 percent drop in its net addition during this period.

Andhra Pradesh’s and Punjab’s informal entities witnessed a faster addition to their loan books than the national average, with outstanding loans per establishment rising 53.8 percent and 234.6 percent, respectively, compared to a 34 percent increase for the country.

A comparison with the data from National Accounts shows that growth in fixed assets was lower than private non-financial corporations.

In FY23, gross capital formation on machinery and equipment rose 18.2 percent for private non-financial corporations.

Punjab and Haryana’s enterprises had another problem with their interest burden per enterprise more than doubling during this period.

The government has been trying to spur capex spending by the private sector by ramping up investments in the infrastructure.

Capital spending was up nearly 30 percent in FY24 compared with 24.8 percent in FY23.