Make in Odisha Conclave 2018, State Government organized an investors’ meet in Kolkata

Kolkata, 19/5/118;In the run up to the Make in Odisha Conclave 2018, State Government  organized an investors’ meet in Kolkata to showcase the inherent advantages of investing in Odisha.

The delegation from State led by Principal Secretary (Industries) Sanjeev Chopra met Bengal-based companies to attract investments to Odisha.

During the meetings with investors, the strategic advantages of Odisha such as the low cost of doing business in the state, incentives for investors, dedicated sector-specific clusters and over 1,21,000 acres of land bank available for industrial development was discussed, said sources.

The investors meet witnessed encouraging response with over 30 leading Kolkata-based industrialists meeting the delegation and exploring attractive growth opportunities across State’s focus sectors.

Chopra said, “We are pleased to receive an encouraging response from the business community of Kolkata. Odisha’s business friendly policies and the development of world-class infrastructure have received very positive feedback from investors across the country as we have been able to create an ideal business ecosystem for various sectors to flourish in the State.”

He further said, “We have 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. The average time taken for approval of the projects is also reduced to 20 days from the date of receipt of completed project application.”

Odisha has also made significant strides in implementing the ease of doing business reforms with the compliance percentage going up significantly from 52.12% in 2015to 97.83% in 2017, he said adding, “We are positive about attracting significant investments from Kolkata-based companies in the near future.”

The State delegation also participated in a road show organized by Indian Oil Corporation Limited in Kolkata yesterday where the strategic advantages and opportunities for plastics and technical textiles were showcased at the Paradip Plastics Park and Bhadrak Textiles Park.

The investors were apprised of competitive incentives, availability of land, skilled talent, online single window approval and the low cost of doing business in Odisha.

Multiple Bengal-based companies have invested in Odisha in the recent past.

ITC Limited’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 and create additional employment for 100 people.

Last year, FMCG major Anmol Biscuits had also inaugurated its state-of-the-art biscuits manufacturing unit in Bhubaneswar at an investment of Rs. 135 crore with an aim to employ 1100 people.

In addition to the investors meet and the road show, 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 11-15, 2018.

ASSOCHAM has ranked Odisha as the No. 1 state in terms of investment implementation rate and the state is consistently ranked amongst the top 3 states in terms of live manufacturing investments in India. Odisha has registered a GSDP growth rate of 7.94 per cent in 2016-17, surpassing the national growth rate of 7.1 per cent.