New Delhi, May 22 (IANS) There has been a steady increase in corporate investments during 2024-25, with core infrastructure industries playing a lead role in the growth, according to a report compiled by the Bank of Baroda’s economic research department.

The report, based on data from 1,393 companies across 122 industries, estimates that gross fixed assets, including capital work in progress, increased by 7.6 per cent to Rs 28.50 lakh crore in FY 25 compared with Rs 26.49 lakh crore for FY24.

Refineries accounted for the largest share of fixed assets at 31 per cent, followed by telecom services with 8.6 per cent, iron and steel products (5.9 per cent), cement (5.4 per cent), and power (4.8 per cent).

These five sectors constituted 56 per cent of the total fixed assets, the key contribution of core infrastructure industries to capital formation.

“Most of the leading sectors in terms of being those that drive investment in the country are in the infrastructure space and have registered impressive growth rates,” the report states.

The next five industries by share of fixed assets — public sector banks, private sector banks, chemicals, industrial gases, and non-ferrous metals — collectively accounted for another 14.5 per cent.

Passenger cars, FMCG, pharmaceuticals, IT software, and sponge iron made up another 10.4 per cent of fixed assets.

These five industries represented close to 81 per cent of corporate fixed assets in FY25, indicating their key role in driving capital expenditure.

“The picture is diverse for consumer-oriented industries, which should show more traction in the coming year (FY26) when consumption shows a revival. Demand in some of these sectors has been mixed, especially in urban areas, and the measures announced by the government, as well as declining inflation, should help to reverse the same,” the report said.

Sectors like cement, passenger cars, banks, drugs and pharma, steel, sponge iron and refineries outpaced the average growth in fixed assets, according to the report.

“In case of cement and steel, the linkage was with government capex, where fresh capacities were set up to meet rising demand. In the case of refineries, it was part of the drive to invest in capital for expansion purposes. At the consumer end, drugs and pharmaceuticals were reflective of new capacities being set up for meeting both domestic and export demand,” the report added.

–IANS

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