The global ratings agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) in its latest report has said that capital spending in India is likely to take 12 more months to start recovering as private companies have adopted a ‘Wait-And-See’ approach. The report has said that although India’s economic growth, according to revised GDP numbers based on a new methodology, is strong, and we expect further improvement. However, top Indian corporates are not planning to increase their investments yet. We believe capital spending by top Indian corporates will further decline by 10-15 per cent in fiscal 2016 from its peak in fiscal 2014.
The report has reasoned that companies are “yet to materially benefit” from the government reforms or from an improvement in the Indian economy, it said, adding that the interest rates were high until last year and the global economic environment is also not rosy.
The S&P has said that it expects government-owned companies and Reliance Industries to lead capital spending before a broader-based pick-up occurs. Reliance Industries has embarked on a large capital spending programme of about USD 30 billion over three years, mainly on refining, petrochemical, and the telecom sector. It further added that it expects Tata Motors to increase capital spending, but it is mostly because of the planned expenditure by its Jaguar Land Rover business. It also said that while over the past two years, the Indian private sector generally has taken a back seat in capital spending, public sector has continued with its heightened pace of capital expenditure.
The report has also said that capital expenditure peaked in fiscal 2014 at Rs 3.7 lakh crore for the top 100 Indian companies and it would decline over the next two years. corporates in capital-intensive sectors are mostly focusing on improving profitability and lowering leverage rather than looking at new projects.
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