The National Statistics Office (NSO) is set to release the results of the first private sector capital expenditure (capex) survey in March, as the government nudges the private sector to ramp up investments to drive economic growth, said a government official.
The survey tracks the annual capex by the private sector by compiling information on the projected capital investment for the next two years, in addition to capital expenditure in the past three years. The survey uses the company's database from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) for the purpose.
“The inaugural edition of the survey started in October and is expected to be completed by January next year. Since it is an inaugural edition, we will have robust data checks to ensure consistency in results. The results will be out by March, soon after advance estimates are made public,” said the official privy to the development.
"It is a web survey, meaning that NSO is using the company's database from the MCA. Field enumerators are not going out to collect data. Information is being collected from nearly 7,000 entities, which represent around 80 per cent of the turnover of the private sector. We have ensured fair representation to all the nine sectors of the economy. It will be an annual exercise from now onwards, with the survey period ranging from October to December,” the official said.
The survey comes at a time when the government is pushing hard to boost economic growth by ramping up capital expenditure as the revival in private investment remains uncertain. The latest data on national accounts released by the NSO showed that India’s economic growth slowed more sharply than anticipated in Q2 (July-September), dropping to a seven-quarter low of 5.4 per cent, with the government capex also facing a slowdown during the quarter.
Growth in gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) — a proxy for investments — slowed to 5.4 per cent in Q2FY25 from 7.5 per cent in Q1.
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Earlier in July, the Economic Survey had noted visible green shoots in private capex but urged caution.
“Improved balance sheets will help the private sector cater to strong investment demand. However, a note of caution is warranted here. Private capital formation, after good growth in the last three years, may turn slightly more cautious due to fears of cheaper imports from countries with excess capacity,” the survey noted.
The annual private capex survey will run together with the existing annual survey of industries, which tracks output, value-added, and employment across manufacturing sector enterprises.
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