BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Government has rolled out the red carpet for companies wishing to set up big defence and aerospace units in the State by extending capital subsidy upto 50 per cent of the cost of land for the project and a host of other benefits.
On Saturday, the State Cabinet approved Odisha Aerospace & Defence Manufacturing Policy, 2018, which will be placed before the investors at the Make in Odisha 2.0 conclave scheduled to be held here from November 11 to 15.
The biggest attraction is the capital subsidy of `100 crore for the first three original equipment manufacturer companies investing over `1,000 crore and creating at least 1,000 direct job opportunities. Besides, interest subsidy will be granted upto `10 crore per annum and `5 crore per annum for those companies investing more than `500 crore and at least `100 crore respectively in plant and machinery.
“The policy promulgated by the State will provide further impetus to the manufacturing units in the sector using the strong existing ecosystem of raw materials and supporting infrastructure,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The policy also proposed to extend subsidy upto 50 per cent of the cost of land, building and plant and machinery to the special purpose vehicle (SPV) for setting up the first aerospace and defence park in the State.
The ceiling is capped at `50 crore for common facility centre, `30 crore for technology innovation centre and `25 crore for testing centre established with private participation.
According to an official, the proposed policy will help the State mobilise big-ticket investments on the back of low costs of doing business in the presence of existing casting, forging and ancillaries industries. He added the Government is in talks with Adani, Mahindra and Hinduja to name a few, to explore possibilities of local defence manufacturing bases in the State.
Odisha already has in place an ecosystem to facilitate the growth of aerospace and defence sectors with Chandipur, one of the busiest missile testing facilities; a test laboratory set up by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), an ordnance factory at Balangir and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s aero engine facility at Koraput.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Industries Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said, “The objective of the policy is to widen opportunities for the MSME sector and create more jobs.” MSME units will get reimbursement of cost towards ESI and EPF for creating direct and indirect jobs, he added.