BHUBANESWAR: If numbers are anything to go by, Odisha’s biggest investors’ summit is a resounding success. For, the Government on Friday claimed that the maiden Make In Odisha Conclave attracted investment intents to the tune of a staggering Rs 2.03 lakh crore over the three-day period.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who brought the meet to a close in the presence of Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan, said that the investment pledged in the run-up to the event and during the three-day period totalled Rs 2,03,235 crore across 10 identified sectors. The cumulative investment has a potential to create 1.4 lakh additional jobs for the State.
Of the total, metals and minerals sector received investment intent to the tune of Rs 97,911 crore. Most of the investment is expected in the expansion projects of large manufacturing units.
Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said infrastructure sector drew companies which have shown interest to invest at least Rs 38,443 crore, while power and renewable energy sector saw investment plans to the tune of Rs 29,932 crore.
Similarly, fertilisers, refinery, petrochemicals and plastics industry sector attracted proposals of about Rs 27,023 crore while manufacturing sector drew investment plans of Rs 2,685 crore. Food processing (Rs 2,101 crore), IT and ESDM (Rs 1,500 crore) and Healthcare (Rs 1,392 crore) are the other sectors which caught the interest of investors.
Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said Tourism (Rs 2,076 crore) and Textiles and Apparel (Rs 172 crore) sectors drew interests of the investors too. Although the initial investment appears small, these are high employment generating sectors, he added.
The major investments were pledged by Nalco, NTPC, MCL, SAIL, Tata Steel, Adani Exports, JSPL, PPL and IOCL most of which are operating in the State and have elaborate plans for expansion and capacity addition.
Industries Secretary Sanjiv Chopra said the investment intents were generated by 82 corporates. At least two companies were from overseas countries.
Indo-European Sustainable Development Company of Italy is interested in setting up food processing units (rice of Kalahandi and turmeric from Kandhamal) with an estimated Rs 250 crore. Fortunex, a Bangladesh-based company, is interested to pump in Rs 50 crore for an apparel unit near Bhubaneswar.
“We do not want to go into the MoU signing practice. We have a very efficient approval system and would like the investment to translate as fast as possible,” Chopra said, citing the 15-day approval window for green category industries and 30-day clearance for non-green category units, he added.
Buoyed by the success, the Government has decided to hold the investors’ meet every two years. A dedicated convention centre with an estimated Rs 370 crore would be established to host the meet.
The next Make In Odisha Conclave is scheduled in 2018. Naveen said his Government would ensure the intent transform into investment and then to production and growth.
The State Government had participated in two Make In India meets at Mumbai and Bengaluru earlier this year when companies had pledged investment to the tune of Rs 1.6 lakh crore. Chopra said a number of the projects are already at approval stages.