Fixed asset investment grew faster in the construction and consumer-facing sectors like retail, finance, and consumer durables than the average growth registered across 1,420 industries, showed an ET analysis of data compiled by Bank of Baroda.
Auto, power, and telecom were laggards, according to Bank of Baroda data, growing slower than the 7.1% growth registered across enterprises in the first half of FY23.
“It can be concluded that investment activity is not yet broad-based. It is in limited pockets. In terms of overall share, around 43% of the industries by size of fixed assets performed better than the average. Five major sectors, however, continue to trail, which includes power and telecom,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist of Bank of Baroda.
Investment intentions data also point to certain sectors taking the entire weight of the rise in private activity, the study noted.
“Data on investment intentions based on announcements is also not very encouraging as there is no broad-based picture revealed. 83% of such announcements came from transport, power and chemicals, with transport having a share of 57%,” Sabnavis noted.The manufacturing activity survey conducted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry shows that capacity utilisation was higher for infrastructure and ancillary sectors compared with the national average of 74%.