New Delhi: India’s private capital expenditure surged 67 per cent to Rs 7.7 lakh crore in September 2025 from Rs 4.6 lakh crore a year earlier, marking “the most decisive evidence yet of a powerful and broad-based revival in the country’s investment cycle”, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the industry body unveiled a five-point action agenda to support the economy amid the ongoing West Asia crisis and beyond.
CII’s analysis of nearly 1,200 companies from the CMIE Prowess database showed manufacturing leading the capex push, accounting for Rs 3.8 lakh crore, or nearly half of total private investment, with metals, automobiles and chemicals at the forefront.
The services sector contributed Rs 3.1 lakh crore, accounting for about 40 per cent of the total, driven by trading, communications and IT-enabled services (IT/ITeS).
“The 67 per cent jump in private capex to Rs 7.7 lakh crore is, by far, the most important signal yet that India’s investment cycle has decisively turned,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.
He noted that capacity utilisation rose to 75.6 per cent in Q3 FY26 from 74.3 per cent in the previous quarter, while new order books grew 10.3 per cent year-on-year. Bank credit growth also averaged close to 14 per cent in the second half of FY26, compared to around 10 per cent in the first half.
CII’s five-point agenda includes a phased rollback of the Rs 10 per litre central excise cut on petrol and diesel over six to nine months as crude prices stabilise.
“A calibrated phased restoration of the fuel excise will progressively relieve the exchequer of a substantial burden without disrupting consumer sentiment, and industry is prepared to absorb a meaningful share of input cost pressures within its own margins,” Banerjee said.
The second measure proposes a voluntary industry energy conservation compact, with member companies committing to a 3–5 per cent reduction in fuel and power consumption over the next two quarters.
“Every barrel saved at the factory gate is a barrel less the country has to import,” he added.
CII also proposed a 45-day MSME payment guarantee backed by TReDS and supply-chain finance to ease working capital pressure on small enterprises.
Other recommendations include strengthening supply-chain resilience through diversified sourcing and greater domestic value addition in components, specialty chemicals and capital goods.
The industry body also called for front-loading FY27 investments in manufacturing, energy transition and digital infrastructure, along with voluntary price restraint and a scale-up in internship intake under PMIS.
Banerjee credited the government for creating an enabling environment through sustained public capex, fiscal discipline, a modernised tax architecture, PLI schemes and free trade agreements covering nearly 70 per cent of the world’s GDP.
“Industry’s task now is to convert this enabling environment into committed capacity, jobs, exports and value addition at scale,” he said.
CII expects India’s real GDP growth to exceed 7.6 per cent in FY26, with exports touching an all-time high of $863 billion and forex reserves remaining above $700 billion.
(DD News)