EconomyBusiness and investment
Where is India's investment showing up?
Spending on fixed assets grew 11.9% in real terms in Q1 FY27. This includes investment by companies, households and government.
Written for readers following Indian business and investment. Readings assessed on 25 Oct 2026.
Spending on fixed assets
Gross fixed capital formation is spending on assets used in production, including buildings, machinery and infrastructure. It includes private and public investment, as well as housing.
Fixed investment against GDP growth
Quarterly growth on a year earlier, %, new GDP base.
How to read it. Compare investment growth with growth of the whole economy. These are inflation-adjusted changes, rather than growth in spending at current prices.
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How much growth came from investment?
Fixed investment added 4.0 percentage points to GDP growth of 7.8% in Q1 FY27.
What fixed investment added to GDP growth
Quarterly, percentage points of yearly real GDP growth, new base.
How to read it. The contribution is the increase in real investment divided by GDP a year earlier. A larger investment share means the same growth rate contributes more.
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What share of the economy goes into fixed assets?
At current prices, fixed investment was 31.7% of GDP in FY26. This annual share is broader than corporate capex.
Fixed investment's share of nominal GDP
Annual, % of GDP at current prices. April dates label the financial year starting then; bases stay separate.
How to read it. The overlapping lines show how rebasing changes the measured share. Compare movements within a line; differences between bases are measurement changes.
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This is the fixed-investment share. Changes in inventories and purchases of valuables are outside this measure.
Is production of investment goods rising?
Capital-goods production grew 16.9% over the year to Aug 2026. Infrastructure and construction goods grew 6.4% over the year to Aug 2026.
Machinery and construction-goods production
Monthly growth on a year earlier, %. IIP bases change at the marked dates.
How to read it. Compare the direction of the two production groups. These are goods made in India, so imports, exports and inventories prevent a direct reading as domestic investment.
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Are construction materials following through?
Cement output grew 9.8% and steel grew 4.9% over the year to Sept 2026.
Cement and steel output
Core-industry indices, monthly growth on a year earlier, %.
How to read it. These materials are widely used in construction. Their production also serves exports and inventories, and steel has uses beyond construction.
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Who is borrowing from banks?
Bank lending to industry grew 18.2% over the year to Aug 2026. Lending also finances working capital, so credit growth alone cannot show how much new capacity was built.
Industry credit growth by borrower size
Monthly growth on a year earlier, %, selected reporting banks. RBI's matched comparisons.
How to read it. Growth rates compare each size group with its own year-earlier lending. A smaller category can grow faster while accounting for much less borrowing.
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What the numbers can't tell you
- Investment includes more than companies
- National fixed investment includes housing, public infrastructure and corporate assets. Neither the national total nor industrial production isolates private corporate capex.
- Factory surveys cover their respondents
- OBICUS covers manufacturing firms that respond to the RBI. Respondent numbers and composition change. Seasonal adjustment can revise earlier readings, and services capacity is outside this factory measure.
- The accounting base matters
- GDP and industrial-production revisions change coverage and measurement. GDP bases stay separate here; industrial growth is calculated within each base, with changes marked on the chart.
- Listed companies are only one part of business
- The company panel excludes financial firms, government companies and unlisted businesses. Matched-company growth reduces sample-change distortions within a release; it does not make a fixed or economy-wide panel.
- Opinions and lending are supporting evidence
- An optimistic response is not an investment order. Bank borrowing pays for working capital as well as assets, while investment may be financed from retained profits or other sources.
The workings
The question
Data
Each measure keeps its own period. Charts of the RBI's own readings hide table and download controls. Bundles are listed in data status.