Indian Firms to Cut Capital Expenditure by 14 Percent

Mumbai: Indian companies are likely to reduce capital expenditure by 14 percent in the current financial year due to "policy logjam" and slow economic growth, a survey by CRISIL Research showed. The planned capital expenditure (capex) for those polled is expected to be 14 percent lower in 2012-13 compared to the previous year. It comes on the back of a 4 percent fall in capex in 2011-12, CRISIL Research said in the survey report. The survey covered 200 leading Indian companies, including 170 from private sector. The 200 companies polled account for around 70 percent of the market capitalisation of all companies in the S&P CNX 500 (excluding banking and financial services companies). At 35 percent, the decline in investments of the private sector companies polled will be far steeper. Moreover, close to half of those polled indicated that they have no intention of investing in new projects this year. Over 70 percent of those polled also indicated that policy logjam was one of the top two factors responsible for the current slowdown in investments. "A majority of the companies surveyed have indicated that policy issues such as land acquisition, mining policy, fuel linkages and spectrum pricing as well as delays in project clearances are impacting investments," said Mukesh Agarwal, president, CRISIL Research. "To spur investments, the government will have to play the role of an enabler by addressing these bottlenecks," Agarwal said in the survey report. The sectors where capex is expected to decline significantly are cement, textiles, telecom and automobiles. Most of the total planned capex of 2.7 trillion in 2012-13 by polled companies is towards existing ongoing projects; only about one-fourth is towards new projects. Close to half of the companies also indicated that they have no plans of starting any new projects in 2012-13. While in some of the sectors like metals and infrastructure (roads, ports and power) the capex is expected to increase, a large part of the capex has been deferred. In fact, 30 private sector companies disclosed that they have deferred or shelved projects aggregating to 350 billion, of which infrastructure and metals account for over 70 percent. "Capex by private sector companies in our survey is expected to decline by nearly 720 billion or 35 percent in 2012-13. Since the private sector accounts for three-fourth of India's GDP and over 90 per cent of its manufacturing output, the revival of private sector investment is critical to lift the sagging economic growth," said Roopa Kudva, managing director and CEO, CRISIL.