The much talked-about global economic slowdown, high inflation and skyrocketing oil prices have made no dent to the Indian corporate sector's expansion plans for 2008, with Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal and Rajasthan being the top choices for new projects.

According to industry body ASSOCHAM Indian corporates in the first six months of the current calendar year alone have announced expansion plans worth Rs1,050,950 crore ($245.6 billion), which is nearly double the Rs567,851 crore for August-December 2007.

The report further states ''out of the total 24 states tracked by the Chamber Research Bureau, the top 10 states, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal and Rajasthan were the most preferred destination by the private players for investments opportunities in the first half of 2008.''

ASSOCHAM president Sajjan Jindal says that with the industrialisation drive moving at a faster pace, Maharashtra topped the chart with investment commitments worth Rs120,065 crore in sectors like power, real estate, automobiles, ports and shipping.

The biggest investment announcements were made by Tata Power at Rs25,000 crore planning to raise generation capacity from 2368 Mw to 12861 Mw for the next five years, followed by Reliance Industries' semi conductors and other micro-technology units at an investment of Rs21,666 crore over the next 10 years.

Andhra Pradesh, being the second most mineral-rich state of the country, attracted the second highest investment announcements with a share of 10.11 per cent totaling to Rs106,242 crore by major industrialist like Reliance Industries, Hinduja Group, Videocon Industries Ltd, GAIL India and othersfor the next two to five years.

Home to huge iron ore and coal reserves, the state of Orissa emerged as the third most preferred destination with investment announcements worth Rs. 88,902 crore for the next two to five years. Companies like the London-based Agarwal-owned Vedanta Resources has announced a capex of Rs24,000 crore for the production of 35-40 million cubic meters of gas per day, while its flagship operations in India, Sterlite Industries has announced an investment of Rs17,000 crore for generating power in the state.

The third largest investment announcement in Orissa is from National Aluminum Cooperation (NALCO), which plans to invest Rs14,000 crore for setting up a greenfield aluminum and captive power plant.

Powered by huge potential in steel and manufacturing sectors, West Bengal attracted investment announcements worth Rs83,287 crore, the majority of which will go into steel, manufacturing, hospitality. The top investor in the state is Delhi-based Cals Refineries, which is planning to set up 20 million tonnes per anum capacity refinery project  at an ionvestment of Rs20,000 crore in the next six years (See: Cals Refineries to invest Rs20,000-crore at Nayachar petrochemicals hub)

Shyam Group, which has interests in steel, power and cement, plans to set up an integrated steel and power plant in Jamuria near Ansol district in West Bengal at an investment of Rs9,900 crore.

Rajasthan attracted 7.69 per cent of the total capital outlay announced, over the next two to five years. The sectors that drew maximum investment plans were real estate, retail, expressways, energy alone attracting Rs68,400 crore by industrialist like Omaxe Ltd., Parsvanath Developers, Carin India as well as investments in sectors like steel, cement, hospitality, cement, and telecom.

Chattisgarh was host to outlay plans of about Rs67,212 crore as per the capex announcements made during the first six months of the current calendar year.  Most of the capital spending was proclaimed in sectors like power, steel, cement, real estate mainly for setting up manufacturing plant for the next five years.

Among the corporates investing in the state, Gujarat Mineral Development Cooperation announced the highest capex of Rs20,000 crore, followed by Sterlite Industries with a plan of Rs17,000 crore and Tata steel with a capex plan worth Rs16,000 crore.

With rising property prices in the capital, corporate India has lined up investment plans worth Rs50,595 crore in Haryana. Real estate developers Omaxe and CHD Developers are planning to come up with residential and commercial projects have lined up Rs40,250 crore alone in the real estate sector. Apart from these sectors, investments were also announced in IT and retail sectors.

The capital of the country, Delhi and NCR took a backseat in terms of the investments announcements attracting Rs38,237 crore.  NCR took the major share of capex plans worth Rs32,220 crore while Delhi having received committments for worth Rs6,017 crore.

Major developers like Parsvath Developers, Raheja Developers, Paramount Group have plans to expand their real estate business and set up group housing projects by next two to three years in ther state.

Bangalore being high on the industrialisation scale attracted number of investments announcements. The state of Karnataka with a share of 3.08 per cent in the total capex plan for the first half of the current year attracted capital expenditure worth Rs32,321 crore.

The Hindujas along with ONGC have planned to invest around Rs20,000 crore for setting up 15-million tonne refinery in Kakinada and an LNG terminal at Mangalore. The Baldota group has a capex plan of Rs 4,469 crore to set up an integrated steel plant in Koppal district.

Gujarat being one of the most industrialised states was among the top ten states that had attracted the maximum investment announcements. The state attracted an outlay worth Rs28,136 crore for the next two to seven years, with. Jindal Saw (JSL) leading the investments with its plans to set up the state's first shipbuilding and repair hub.

Essar Power has alos announced investment plans of Rs4,800 crore for setting up a 1200 MW power plant in the state. Gujarat also attracted investment announcements from the cement sector with Unitech cement planning to set up an establishment of green-field project in an outlay worth Rs3000 crore by the end of this fiscal.