US companies Microsoft, Oracle, Paypal express interest to invest in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Several US companies like Microsoft, Oracle, Paypal and others have expressed their interest to invest in Odisha, said an official on Wednesday.

In an interactive session with US-India Strategic Partnership Forum through video conferencing, the potential investors made queries about the investment opportunities in Odisha.

The investors were from various sectors like energy, agri-business, nutrition, aviation, information technology, metals and renewable energy.

The leading industries which have showed interest in the interaction included ATC, Avaada Energy, Carirn Energy, Cisco, Exxon Mobil, Herbalife, HP, Mars, Microsoft, Oracle and Paypal.

The perspective investors interacted with chief secretary Asit Tripathy and other senior officers of the state under the leadership of Dr Mukesh Aghi, president and CEO of US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).

Replying to the queries of perspective investors, the chief secretary said, “Many of our industrial estates are now in green zone. As of now, around 60% of the industries are now running by virtue of adopting the Covid preventive measures.”

He said the state has followed policy consistency in matters of industrial promotion and now the state is on the verge of rolling out more progressive regulations in matters of land leasing, contract farming, direct farmer-market connect that will open new avenues of investment.

Industries secretary Hemant Sharma said Odisha is a pioneer state in having a stabilised single window clearance system for investment proposals.