India’s top 500 companies held a cash pile of 4.7 lakh crore ($96 billion) at the end of March, showing rude health for the corporate sector while underscoring a reluctance to utilise it on expansion in an uncertain business climate.

This cash hoard, enough to build 18,000 km of six-lane expressways or 27 mega power plants, was double what it was at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008, growing at 22% compounded annually for the three years to end-March 2011, an analysis of BSE-500 firms by the ET Intelligence Group showed.

Banks and finance companies were excluded from this analysis, reducing the list to 408 firms. The list was led by Coal India, which had the biggest cash pile, and included companies such as Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, TCS and Ranbaxy Labs.

Industrialists and analysts said the analysis of the cash pile indicates that while corporate balance sheets are healthier, companies are being forced to stack up a mountain of cash instead of deploying on fresh investment opportunities.

The data comes out at a time there is widespread talk and anecdotal evidence of Indian corporates either conserving cash or investing it overseas, with the domestic economy hobbled by political challenges and in the grips of a slowdown.

Several corporates have complained of difficulties in securing land and environment clearances amid widespread perception of a policy drift. A group of business leaders and other eminent citizens, which included HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh and Wipro chief Azim Premji, noted last week that “fresh investments are not forthcoming at the pace required for a rapidly growing economy like ours”.

The ETIG analysis showed the companies increased their investments in securities by over a third since FY08, a compounded annual growth rate of 8.4%. The total cash balance and investments of the sample amounted to 8.2 lakh crore, or $167 billion, twice the Centre’s planned borrowings of 3.7 lakh crore for FY12.

Cash and investments of these companies add up to close to 11% of India’s gross domestic product of 75.8 lakh crore ($1.5 trillion).

The trend of companies hoarding cash is similar to that in the US. A report by S&P Valuation and Risk Strategies research group in August this year said non-financial S&P 500 companies collectively held cash and short-term investments of more than $1.1 trillion.

An analysis of the cash position alone will not reflect the true picture of a company’s health since the cash could be boosted by higher borrowings, making it critical to look at cash and investments in relation to long-term borrowings.

While India Inc fares well on this count, the proportion of long-term debt supporting every rupee in cash has been rising. In FY11, the cumulative debt of the sample stood at 1.1 times cash and investments, up from a multiple of 0.8 in FY08.