Odisha Among Top 3 States With 42% Share In New Investments Last Fiscal: RBI report

Bhubaneswar: Odisha is among the five states that accounted for more than half of the total bank-assisted investment proposals made during the year 2022-23 when the envisaged total cost of the projects reached a new peak since 2014-15, the latest report released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revealed.

The last fiscal saw a surge of 87.7 per cent in projects that got assistance from banks and financial institutions. A total of 547 projects with a record high total project cost of Rs 2,66,547 crore were sanctioned by the banks and financial institutions as compared to 401 projects with a total project cost of Rs 1,41,976 crore during 2021-22.

Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Maharashtra and Karnataka accounted for 57.2 per cent share (or Rs 2,01,700 crore) in total project cost during 2022-23. Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Odisha alone shared 42 per cent of the total project cost as compared to 26.7 per cent in 2021-22.

In 2022-23, Uttar Pradesh accounted for the highest share of 16.2 per cent, or Rs 43,180 crore followed by Gujarat (14 per cent, or Rs 37,317 crore), Odisha (11.8 per cent, or Rs 31,452 crore), Maharashtra (7.9 per cent) and Karnataka (7.3 per cent). The share of Uttar Pradesh and Odisha in the total cost of projects improved significantly from the previous year as well as the average share recorded during the period 2013-14 to 2020-21, the RBI study said.

Odisha’s 11.8 per cent share of the total investment with only 12 projects indicated that the state attracted more number of big companies as compared to UP and Gujarat. Notably, the state, which had the highest share of 15.9 per cent with only five projects in 2014-15, fared poorly in last seven years with only around 3 per cent in 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 1.4 per cent in 2018-19, 1.9 per cent in 2019-20, 0.1 per cent in 2020-21 and 2.2 per cent in 2021-22.

A sustained pick-up in bank credit in recent period, rising capacity utilisation, improved business outlook and various government policy initiatives to support investment activities provided a conducive environment for the private corporates to undertake fresh capital investment in the states, the analysis said.

Of the total capital investment during 2022-23, about 40 per cent is expected to be spent in 2023-24, it added.

On the other hand, Kerala, Goa and Assam are at the bottom of the table in bank-assisted new projects. Haryana and West Bengal also failed to get many investments projects, accounting for around one per cent, or Rs 2,665 crore, of the total projects.