Manufacturing sector pushed capex investment of private companies in 2021-22Capital expenditure (capex) investments announced by the private sector witnessed a 145 to 150 per cent increase in 2021-22, compared to the corresponding fiscal as manufacturing was the key driving factor for both capex and orders during the year.According to industrial data released by investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, manufacturing sector saw a huge jump of 210 per cent to 460 per cent in 2021-22, compared to 2020-21.Though this increase was mainly aided by big project announcements (especially in the steel sector), the number of projects announced also increased by 80 per cent to 140 per cent in 2021-22 compared to corresponding fiscal.Sectors like petrochemicals, steel, cement and automobiles as well as new-age sectors like electronics, e-vehicles and data centres, contributed to the growth of manufacturing sector, the investment banking company noted.Engineering goods exports remained strong in February 2022 at $9.4 billion, up 33 per cent year-on-year. Contract awarding saw an overall increase of 55 per cent year-on-year in 2021-22 and themanufacturing sector witnessed an increase of 135 per cent year-on-year. Higher activity in the roads sector primarily drove growth in the infrastructure sector, it said.The month of March witnessed broad-based improvement in indicators (including diesel, petrol,electricity demand, container volumes and railway freight) compared to February and also on year-on-year basis.The relatively strong March data drove low-to-mid-single digit year-on-year growth onaverage for fourth quarter of 20212-22, despite the impact of Omicron, the firm said.Trends in April so far continue to be stable, with power demand up 8.5 per cent year-on-year and railway freight up 8 per cent year-on-year, Goldman Sachs concluded.
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