Odisha invites Bengal investors to explore investment opportunities and improve employment potential
The Odisha government has recently organised an investors meet and participated in a roadshow in Kolkata to showcase the inherent advantages of investing in the mineral-rich state, a top official today said.
A state government delegation briefed Bengal-based companies about the enormous growth opportunities that Odisha offers during the meet held on May 18, the senior official said.
During the meetings with investors, strategic advantages of Odisha such as low cost of doing business, incentives for investors, dedicated sector-specific clusters and over 1,21,000 acres of land bank available for industrial development were highlighted.
The meet elicited encouraging response with over 30 leading Kolkata-based industrialists meeting the delegation and exploring attractive growth opportunities across Odisha's focus sectors, he said.
"We are pleased to receive an encouraging response from the business community of Kolkata. We are positive about attracting significant investments from Kolkata-based companies in the near future," said Odisha's Principal Secretary, Industries, Sanjeev Chopra, who led the state's delegation at the investors' meet.
He said Odisha's business-friendly policies and world-class infrastructure have received positive feedback from investors across the country as the state has created an ideal business ecosystem for various sectors to flourish.
The state has seen a significant rise in attracting manufacturing projects with more than 118 large projects approved with employment potential of 1,28,572 in the past 4 years alone in the state, Chopra said.
The average time taken for approval of projects is also reduced to 20 days from the date of receipt of completed project application, he said adding Odisha has made strides in implementing the ease of doing business reforms with the compliance percentage going up significantly from 52.12 per cent in 2015 to 97.83 per cent in 2017.
The delegation also participated in a roadshow organised by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) in Kolkata where strategic advantages and opportunities for plastics and technical textiles were showcased at the Paradip Plastics Park and Bhadrak Textiles Park, said an official.
Several Bengal-based companies have invested in Odisha in the recent past. ITC Ltd's food processing unit coming up at Khurda also received approval to expand its product line.
The construction work of the unit is currently in progress. The expansion of the project would entail additional investment of Rs 63 crore.
Recently, Materials Chemicals and Performance Intermediaries Private Limited (MCPI) submitted a Rs 1,000 crore proposal through online single window portal GO-SWIFT to set up a polyester continuous polymerisation and allied yarn project at Bhadrak textiles park, he said.
In addition to the investors meet and the roadshow, the state delegation also met the Consul Generals of China and Japan in Kolkata and invited companies from both the countries to participate in the second edition of the biennial Make in Odisha Conclave 2018 which has been scheduled to be held in Bhubaneswar from November 11 to 15, 2018.
With the objective of attracting 2.5 lakh crore fresh investments and generating 30 lakh job opportunities as part of Vision - 2025, the Odisha government is diversifying and broadening the state's industrial development across the focus sectors.(PTI).
