the indian economy is expected to grow close to 7 in this fiscal year despite global headwinds while the government has been providing fiscal support in the form of increased capital expenditure fm sitharaman is looking at the private sector to up investments to spur growththe capital expenditure or capex of the private corporate sector plays a significant role in driving the overall investment climate in the economy hence an assessment of the private investment outlook is important to gauge the prospects of gdp growthmost economists and experts surveyed by the times of india online feel that private investments are indeed picking up while some pointed out that certain pockets are witnessing sustained growth others believe more steps need to be taken to encourage private investmentsnikhil gupta chief economist at motilal oswal financial services tells toi private investment including corporate and household has already picked up strongly in the past 1824 months within that households investments residential real estate have outperformed corporate investments he notesdr rupa rege nitsure group chief economist at lt financial services is of the view that private investment has started recovering gradually this is reflected in the sectoral deployment of banks nonfood credit growth the central government has given a good capex push which needs to be strengthened by the state governments she saysan economist at a leading housing finance company also states that private investment is already picking up capacity utilization is close to 75 a lot of consolidation is happening for instance in the cement industry the economist sayscapacity utilisation rate is a major indicator of private investments in the economy according to the latest rbi data manufacturing companies have been receiving higher new orders the sequential qoq growth for the last four successive quarters has been positive the seasonally adjusted capacity utilisation increased to 743 in the first quarter of fy23 from 730 in the last quarter of fy22however at the aggregate level the capacity utilisation for the manufacturing sector recorded a seasonal decline to 724 in q1 fy23 from 753 in the previous quarteran economist at a prominent industry body points out that many announcements are being made by corporates across sectors such as natural resources renewables infrastructure and logisticsthe august rbi bulletin article on private corporate investment states that announcements of new investment projects have increased after set back in pandemic period announcements of new investment projects increased significantly during 202122 with total cost of project recording an increase of about 90 per cent over 202021 but still remaining below the prepandemic level the article says infrastructure sector continued to attract maximum capex projects led by power and road bridges sectors it saysbroadbased recovery of private investments importantmadan sabnavis chief economist at bank of baroda sees investment picking up in select sectors private investment will pick up only when demand revives today it is happening in select sectors linked more to infrastructure like steel chemicals rather than consumer goods he tells toi i dont expect broad based investment to pick