BHUBANESWAR: Amid the buzz over Vedanta’s move to set up a semiconductor chip plant in Gujarat and an iPhone manufacturing hub in Maharashtra, group chairman Anil Agarwal met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Mumbai on Wednesday and reasserted the company’s continued investment in Odisha.
Agarwal said the company has lined up new investments of more than Rs 25,000 crore for expansion of aluminium, ferrochrome and mining business, which will create more job opportunities and revenue for the State.
“Vedanta stands testimony to what is possible if you ‘Make in Odisha’. It is amongst the most favourable investment destinations in India, ably led by the stable governance, which is reflected in the State’s ease of doing business rankings. Single window clearance system, 5T framework and focus on infrastructure projects have increased the investor community’s confidence in Odisha,” he said after the meeting with the Chief Minister.
Naveen interacted with India’s top business honchos in the run up to the Make-in-Odisha Conclave 200 in Bhubaneswar later this year and invited them to explore vast opportunities for investment in the State and ease of doing business available here.
Besides Agarwal, Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, APAR Industries Chairman Chaitanya Desai, WAAREE Group CMD Hitesh Chimanlal Doshi, JM Baxi Group MD Dhruv Kotak and CFO of STT GDC India Bimal Khandelwal held discussions with him.
“There’s only one way to describe CM @Naveen_Odisha - A Class Act. Cerebral, calm, confident, he’s a man of few words who lets his actions do the talking. One of his greatest legacies will be a model for mitigating natural disasters that is being emulated around the world,” tweeted Mahindra after his meeting.
Naveen also met SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara, ICICI Bank Executive Director Rakesh Jha and Country Head of HDFC Bank Arvind Vohra and apprised them about the growth opportunities in the banking sector. He invited them to set up new branches and expand banking services in the unbanked areas.
Addressing the potential investors, Naveen said Odisha is one of the fastest growing economies in the country and has consistently grown above the national average in the last decade and a half.
“Odisha has been ranked among the top states in India in terms of live manufacturing investments and have been accorded the achiever status in the recently released ease of doing business ratings by the Centre. The Make in Odisha Conclave is a platform for our state to showcase our growth story and to present what we have to offer to our investors across the globe. It is also a platform for industry captains and thought leaders to talk about the future outlook of various industrial sectors,” he said.
During one-to-one interaction with industry leaders as part of the curtain raiser event for third edition of the summit, the Chief Minister discussed about new industrial propositions and highlighted huge scope in component manufacturing, setting up of ancillary, downstream industries, logistics services, maritime trade and cargo operations in the State.
Minister for Industries, MSME and Energy Pratap Keshari Deb stressed the State’s highly skilled workforce and said Odisha has established a first of its kind World Skill Centre (WSC) to make youth job-ready.
Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra shed light on how Odisha has been one of the major breakout states in the country in terms of development, registering impressive GSDP growth rates year after year and industrializing at break-neck speed.
Principal Secretary of Industries department Hemant Sharma, IPICOL Chairman Bhupendra Singh Poonia and FICCI Maharashtra State Council Chairman Sulajja Firodia Motwani also spoke.