According to the survey by ProjectsToday, a firm tracking the country's project investments, as many as 9,919 new startups entailing a total investment of Rs 7,95,144 crore were announced in January-December, 2010.
In contrast, 9,344 new projects worth Rs 6,26,119 crore were announced in the previous year.
During the period under review, the private sector announced 3,987 projects entailing a total investment of Rs 4.52 lakh crore.
As against this, government agencies announced 5,932 new initiatives involving a total investment of Rs 3.42 lakh crore.
"Private sector continued to dominate fresh investment emanated in 2010; its share in the total pie came down to 56.9 per cent from 59.7 per cent in 2009. A steeper 36 per cent expansion in fresh investment by government units helped them to increase their share in the total fresh investment from 40.3 per cent to 43.1 per cent," the report noted.
The report said the bulk of the fresh private investment found its way into electricity, petrochemicals, cement and metallurgy projects.
Interestingly, the year 2010 saw 1,520 projects entailing a total investment of Rs
1,67,581 crore get commissioned. At the same time, 666 projects involving an estimated investment of Rs 1,73,998 crore were shelved.
Some of the high investment proposals made in 2010 include the Rs 25,000 crore steel project of Arcelor-Mittal India in Jharkhand, the Rs 25,000 crore refinery project of HPCL in Ratnagiri and Reliance Industries' Rs 16,000 crore petroleum project in Gujarat.
In addition, IFFCO's Rs 10,000 crore urea project in Andhra Pradesh and the Rs 10,000 crore alumina project of Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation at Kutch, in Gujarat.
A region-wise analysis shows that Orissa is the most preferred destination for fresh investment, with the state attracting 367 startups worth Rs 97,712 crore, followed by Maharashtra, with 1,962 startups worth Rs 95,720 crore.
The other three states attracting the most investment proposals were Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
The service and infrastructure sector attracted the maximum number of projects, with 7,032 start-ups worth Rs 2.70 lakh crore announced. In terms of investment, the electricity and non-conventional energy sectors received the maximum investment commitment of 2.86 lakh crore for 699 projects.
The report further said that environmental issues and land acquisition problems were the main reasons for delays in project execution.
In the government sector, cancellation was limited to electricity and roadways projects, the private sector saw large-scale cancellations of refineries, steel, aluminium and electricity initiatives.