BHUBANESWAR: Carrying forward the initiative to woo investors ahead of Make- In-Odisha Conclave this November, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday met industry and business leaders in New Delhi. Inviting them to the flagship biennial event, Naveen highlighted the competitive advantage of Odisha in terms of infrastructure, natural and human resources and a most favourable atmosphere for ease of doing business. “Odisha is fast emerging as manufacturing hub of eastern India.
The State is the steel hub of the country, contributing to about a quarter of India’s steel production. We have been focusing on enhancing the production levels of key minerals and value added products during the last 18 years,” he said. Naveen underlined the efforts for strengthening infrastructure like enhancing road network by 50 per cent, increasing port capacity by 10 times to 190 million MT and attaining power surplus State.
This apart, intensive skill development programme is being undertaken to ensure industry-ready workforce in the State. “The Skilled-In-Odisha initiative for development of human capital has already gained recognition as a global brand”, he said. The Chief Minister said the State has demonstrated its commitment to deliver projects on ground by using the mantra of 3Ts - Teamwork, Technology and Transparency.
Ground breaking ceremony for 50 projects with investment of over `17,000 crore has been conducted in the last six months. The State Government is preparing a road map ‘Vision 2030: Development of Downstream and Ancillary in Metal Sector’ with an aim to further vitalise downstream ecosystem of the State. Odisha has a vibrant start-up ecosystem with ‘Start-Up Odisha’ initiative gaining registration of more than 250 start-ups within a few months.
The State is poised to be among top-three start-up hubs of the country by 2020, he said. Naveen launched a single user-friendly portal ‘Invest Odisha’ to enable the industry make informed investment decisions by comparing the competitiveness of Odisha with other States and countries.
Assuring unmatched facilitation support from the State Government, he invited investors and business leaders to participate in Make-in-Odisha Conclave at Bhubaneswar from November 11 to 15. Speaking at the meet, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said inter-departmental interactions have been enhanced to ensure that projects are approved within 20 days while Industries Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said the State has competitive advantage over known investment destinations like Maharashtra and Gujarat because of cheap labour, land availability and low cost of living.
The Chief Minister also chaired official level meetings with Ambassador of Japan and members of Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry besides the embassy officials from Saudi Arabia. A delegation of ministers and officials, including Industries Minister Ananta Das, Health Minister Pratap Jena, A P Padhi, Additional CS Rajesh Verma and Sanjeev Chopra also interacted with investors. Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd Naveen Jindal, Marc A Hoffman of Germany-based SMS group, MD of Shahi Exports and CEO of OYO Rooms Ritesh Agarwal attended the event.