The Odisha government, which is holding its maiden ‘Make in Odisha’ conclave, on back of Centre’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, is hopeful of bagging deals worth Rs. 1.5 lakh crore in the event that is to be held from November 30 to December 2.

This is over and above the Rs. 1.4 lakh crore worth of projects, it had signed in Mumbai and Bengaluru during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship event early this year.

Talking to BusinessLine , the Odisha government’s Principal Secretary (Industries), Sanjeev Chopra, said that the idea to create Odisha as the manufacturing hub of the East and the most preferred investment destination in India with the new industrial policy that enables faster approvals besides providing conducive environment in terms of land, cost of doing business and logistics, which covers all the three important mode of transportation — inland waterway, railway and roads.

Talks on with companies

“Odisha has always maintained a low profile all these years but has witnessed a strong GDP growth. With this (Make in Odisha) initiative, the objective is to showcase the manufacturing ecosystem of the state. We are already in talks with several companies in sectors like apparel, food processing, biotech, pharma, MSME development and IT. We have also got inquiries from the international market mainly in sectors like metal downstream, food and petrochemicals,” Chopra said adding that Odisha is expected to grow at 12 per cent by 2020.

He also added that the state government, while promoting manufacturing, has taken steps to protect the environment.

Lesson from POSCO

“While the POSCO baggage is still there, we are also working around reforms and creating a land bank mapped on GIS (Geographic Information System) so that any investor from across the world can analyse looking at the map whether a project can be set up in that particular area. We have about one lakh acres of land mapped under GIS,” Chopra added.

The government’s initiative comes at a time when two of its biggest investments Vedanta Alumina Ltd’s Niyamgiri project and a Rs. 50,000 crore integrated steel plant by South Korean steel giant Posco have been stuck endlessly at various stages over issues relating to environmental clearance and land acquisition.

Source: The Hindu Business Line

Image Courtesy: Prameya News7