BHUBANESWAR: As industry captains from across the country made a slew of investment promises, Odisha on Monday received commitments of over Rs 1.5 lakh crore during the second day of Make-in-Odisha Conclave 2018.
After Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik exhorted investors to be a part of transformation that Odisha is going through, Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Tata Sons Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Aditya Birla Group Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of Jindal Steel Naveen Jindal, Chairman of SAIL Anil Kumar Chaudhary and others pledged to expand their existing projects in the State.
Addressing the plenary session of the mega investors’ meet, Ambani said Reliance Jio would make a fresh investment of Rs 3,000 crore.“We have created employment opportunities for 30,000 people in the last two years in Odisha. We are on a mission to transform the State digitally. For most of the villages, Jio has provided not only their first phone, but first TV, first camera, and first internet and brought artificial intelligence in their lives, at an affordable price of Rs 100 per month,” he said.
Praising the State Government for offering a conducive industrial environment, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekharan announced that the company would invest Rs 25,000 crore on capacity expansion of Tata Steel’s Kalinga Nagar plant from three million tonnes per annum to eight mtpa.
JSPL Chairman said his company would invest Rs 55,000 crore to augment capacity of Angul steel plant from six mtpa to 20 mtpa by 2030. “JSPL is also operating nine mtpa pellet plant at Barbil, which has been exporting the highest amount of pellets from the country,” he said.
Joining the investment bandwagon, SAIL Chairman said the Central PSU would pump in Rs 41,000 crore to ramp up its Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) from 4.5 mtpa to 10 mtpa in next three years.
Indian multinational conglomerate Aditya Birla Group promised to invest over Rs 14,500 in next couple of years. “The investment would spread across businesses. The focus areas of our investment will be on developing the socio-economic conditions of the people. Beyond business, we always work for the underprivileged sections of the society,” said Birla.
Similarly, Chairman of Vedanta Resources Anil Agarwal said his company will spend Rs 15,000 crore for expansion of its alumina refinery at Lanjigarh from three mtpa to six mtpa. JSW Chairman Sajjan Jindal, who did not divulge his investment intent, said he is looking to invest large amount of money in Odisha in building largest green field steel plant near Paradip.
The ITC Group has pledged an additional investment of Rs 550 crore for its food processing unit in Khurda in next three-five years. Britannia Industries announced an investment of Rs 60 crore for its bakery plant.
Adani Group’s Dhamra Port Company Ltd signed an MoU with the Odisha Government for construction of an air strip at Dhamra in Bhadrak district at an investment of Rs 500 crore.
Addressing the business leaders, the Chief Minister said the State has laid down the “Odisha Industrial Development Plan: Vision 2025” with a target to attract investment of Rs 2.5 lakh crore and creation of 30 lakh job opportunities in six identified focus sectors by 2025.
“We have recently launched a progressive Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing Policy to capitalise on the competitive advantages of Odisha’s existing eco-system to attract investment in this high potential sector. Targeting port-led development, we have been planning a chain of ports along the East Coast Economic Corridor. We have also launched the Skilled-in-Odisha Mission to build an iconic global brand,” he added.