Ahead of the Union budget on 5 July, investment in new projects plunged to a 15-year low in the quarter ending in June 2019, fresh data from the project-tracking database of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) shows.

Indian companies, across both private and public sectors, announced new projects worth ₹43,400 crore in the June 2019 quarter, 81% lower than what was announced in March quarter and 87% lower than the same period a year ago.

These are provisional figures and may be revised in due course by CMIE. However, the data paints a grim picture of an investment-starved economy and resonates with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) concerns of shrinking investment in the Indian economy.