Investors’ Meet: CM Naveen highlights vast investment opportunities in Odisha

Riding on the last 2 years of a high level of investments approved by Government of Odisha, amounting to over USD 50 billion since 2021, the Government of Odisha in India is attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in sectors such as Metals and Metal downstream, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Textiles and Apparel including Technical Textiles, Food processing including Seafood processing, ESDM, Logistics and Clean Energy. In this regard, the Odisha Investors Meet was held in Dubai today. The meeting was held under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha, India, along with a delegation of senior officials from the Government of Odisha.

The Investors’ Meet was jointly organized with FICCI and the Embassy of India in UAE. It was attended by more than 150 companies based out of the UAE and the MENA region from sectors comprising of Minerals and Metals processing, Petrochemicals, Chemicals, Plastics, Heavy Industries, Clean Energy, Food Processing including Sea Food Processing, Electrical Equipment & Electronics Manufacturing, Logistics & Warehousing, Real Estate, and Hospitality. Leading industry associations from the region including Indian Business & Professional Council (IBPC) also participated in the event.

During the Investors Meet, a presentation on the ‘Odisha Industrial Ecosystem’ was made highlighting the huge investment opportunities in Odisha.

The Hon’ble Chief Minister addressed the gathering and mentioned-

a) Odisha’s Mineral advantage: Odisha holds the lion’s share of India’s mineral reserves with 96% of the country’s chromite reserves, 92% nickel, 53% bauxite, 45% manganese, 35% iron-one, and 23% coal reserves of India. This has made Odisha the largest producer of Steel, Stainless Steel, Ferro Alloys, Alumina, and Aluminium in India. Odisha also has 11% of India’s water resources. The state has a 480-km long coastline making it a natural choice for setting up ports, and for international trade.

b) Odisha’s human resource advantage: The State is home to a large and highly skilled workforce. The state has made good investments in setting up technical and professional institutes at all skill levels – ITIs, Polytechnics, and engineering & management colleges. 11 of India’s top 100 Industrial training institutes are in Odisha. With the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Institute of Technical Education Services (ITEES), Singapore, the Government of Odisha has recently established the World Skill Centre in Bhubaneswar to prepare the Odia workforce for modern & new age Industry.

c) Odisha’s use of enabling technology in delivering efficient and effective investment facilitation: The State’s Single Window portal for investors, GO SWIFT has transformed the B2G interface with its user-friendly features which provide time-bound clearances for over 50 G2B services. Odisha is also home to over 1200 start-ups, many of which are in the technology space.

d) Odisha’s progressive policy and governance advantage: Focusing on 5Ts – Transparency, Technology, Teamwork, Time, and Transformation, the state Government has taken up several proactive measures for the development of industries and infrastructure. This has created an industry-led ecosystem of value addition, sustainable employment generation, and revenue augmentation in the State.

The Hon’ble Chief Minister also announced that the State would be conducting the third edition of its flagship Global Investors Meet – “Make In Odisha 2022” during Nov 30- Dec 04, 2022 at the state capital Bhubaneswar, India. The Make in Odisha event would focus on sectors including Metals and Metal downstream, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Textiles and Apparel including Technical Textiles, Food processing including Seafood processing, ESDM, Logistics and Clean Energy etc. The Chief Minister extended the invitation to businesses in the MENA region to attend the Make In Odisha 2022 Investor Meet and witness the opportunities the State offers. The event saw huge positive sentiment about Odisha’s manufacturing prowess and garnered significant interest among the investor community.

The team Odisha also conducted 1-1 B2G meetings with major companies of the region. The companies expressed their interest to invest in the state. Investment intents worth more than Rs. 21,000 cr and employment potential of more than 19,000 was received by the state across sectors such as infrastructure, hospitality, logistics, chemicals, food processing etc. Hon’ble Chief Minister invited them to visit Odisha and has also assured all the companies of unmatched facilitation and support.

The team Odisha also included a high-level business delegation from the top companies who have invested in Odisha. The business delegation included Parth Jindal – Managing Director, JSW Cement, Saroj Poddar – Chairman, Paradeep Phosphates Limited, Satish Pai – Managing Director, HINDALCO, Dilip Oommen – CEO, AM/NS India, Rahul Sharma – CEO, Vedanta Ltd., Subhrakant Panda – Managing Director, IMFA, Sujoy Choudhury- Director, IOCL, Jagadish Naik – Chairman, and Managing Director, DN-Homes, Bhabatosh Sahoo, Managing Director, B-One Business House Pvt Ltd., Prashant Mallick – Managing Director, Tata Steel SEZ and Mr. Chanakya Chaudhary – Vice President, Tata Steel Ltd.

The Odisha Investors’ Meet was a platform for presenting the vast array of opportunities Odisha offers to businesses in the UAE and the MENA region. It has generated a huge interest among the business community as it is the first time that a state like Odisha which has received significant domestic investments has also reached out to UAE to attract FDI. okay