New investment projects announced by companies outside the information technology (IT) sector fell about 4 per cent to ₹20.92 trillion in the first half of FY27 (H1FY27), from ₹21.86 trillion in the first half of FY26, according to sectoral data released by Bank of Baroda in a report on Wednesday.
The headline figure, however, showed that total announcements in the first half rose 34.7 per cent to ₹30.38 trillion, from ₹22.56 trillion in the same period last year. The bank said the FY27 level was the highest in the last six years, with 2021 serving as the base, which was during the Covid period.
The gap between the two figures is explained by investments in data centres. IT announcements rose to ₹9.46 trillion in H1FY27 from ₹0.70 trillion in H1FY26. In H1FY24, they were just ₹0.10 trillion. IT now makes up nearly a third of all first-half announcements.
“In the case of IT, which is a phenomenon of 2026, the rush to put up data centres has resulted in an upsurge here,” said the report.
Over a four-year period, the picture outside IT and power is close to flat. Excluding both sectors, first-half announcements stood at ₹11.77 trillion in H1FY27, barely changed from ₹11.55 trillion in H1FY24. In between, they dipped to ₹11.32 trillion in H1FY25 before jumping to ₹16.92 trillion in H1FY26.
Over the same four years, total announcements nearly doubled, from ₹15.94 trillion.
According to the data, electricity has been the most consistent sector. Investment announcements held between ₹4.13 trillion and ₹4.94 trillion in the first halves of FY24 to FY26, then nearly doubled to ₹9.15 trillion in H1FY27. “The electricity sector has continuously shown high investment, and this is in the areas of both conventional and renewable,” the bank said.
Manufacturing remains well above its level two years ago in absolute terms, at ₹8.18 trillion. But its share of total announcements has dropped to about 27 per cent, the lowest in the four years, down from 47 per cent in H1FY26.
Consumer-facing manufacturing remains small but has been rising steadily. Consumer goods announcements grew every year, from ₹0.05 trillion in H1FY24 to ₹0.30 trillion in H1FY27.
The biggest decline over the period is in transport services. In H1FY24, the segment was the largest single source of new projects, at ₹5.72 trillion, or more than a third of all announcements. The report attributed this to airline fleet orders.
By H1FY27, it had fallen to ₹1.67 trillion, about 5 per cent of the total. Construction and real estate are also back at their four-year low of ₹0.67 trillion, after peaking at ₹1.85 trillion in H1FY25.
The data also show how much the leading sector has changed from year to year. Transport services led in H1FY24, power in H1FY25 and H1FY26, and IT in H1FY27.
The report, based on CMIE data, noted that the private sector accounted for 86.3 per cent of this year’s first-half announcements. It also said investment remains concentrated in infrastructure-linked industries rather than consumer-facing ones. “Decisions to invest will largely be dependent on capacity utilization levels. The festival season will hold a clue for this sector as buoyant demand will definitely help to make these investment intentions broader-based,” the report concluded.
