Iems Project 38.55% Fall In Investments

Industrial Enterpreneurs Memoranda (IEMs) received between January and September this year project investments worth Rs 61,283 crore - a sharp fall of 38.55 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year.

In 1995 India received Rs 99,738 crore worth of IEMs between January and September.

As many as 24 out of 26 states have suffered a decline in the number of IEMs, the only two states to have reported improved figures over last year being Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.

As a result, employment generation projections in IEMs this year have also crashed by a drastic 35 per cent compared with last year. Industries that do not require licence under the industrial policy have to file an IEM to the Secretariat of Industrial Approvals (SIA).

 

Although IEMs are not indicators of actual investments flowing into the country, the sharp downturn in IEMs is a definite sign of dampening investor interest in the country. IEMs are only statements of intent and not detailed project reports.

The number of jobs created has decreased from 8,71,752 between January and September last year to 5,62,780 in the corresponding period this year.

The biggest loser is Rajasthan with a 69 per cent fall in the number of IEMs received from Rs 5,910 crore last year to Rs 1,855 crore this year. The number of IEMs received by West Bengal has declined by 63.39 per cent from Rs 4,868 crore between January and September 1995 to Rs 1,782 crore in the correpsonding period this year.

Even Gujarat, which tops the list in receipt of IEMs by bagging 20.16 per cent of the total number received in the country, has seen a 52 per cent fall to Rs 13,661 crore in the first nine months this year.

Similarly, Maharashtra which ranks second in terms of IEMs received saw a 36.4 per cent fall from Rs 15,274 crore between January and September in 1995 to Rs 9,715 crore in the corresponding this year. Maharashtra, which topped the list in terms of employment generated last year, slid to second position this year with an almost 50 per cent cut in the number of jobs generated by the proposed IEMs to 77,754.

In case of Gujarat, which now tops the list in number of jobs generated, the figure has also reduced drastically from 1,42,018 between January and September last year to 82,818 in the corresponding period this year.

Maharashtra is estimated to account for 17.3 per cent of the total employment generated through IEMs in the first nine months this year.