Bhubaneswar: May 13: In a step forward for revival of pandemic affected industrial scenario, Government have initiated steps for establishment of employment intensive investments in the State. Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy chaired an interactive session with Members of UN-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) yesterday evening over video conference wherein Principal Secretary Industry Hemant Sharma presented the unique competitiveness of Odisha over other regions of Indian dominion for investment, in metal, non-metal, downstream, electronics and IT sectors.
Replying the queries of perspective investors, Chief Secretary Sri Tripathy said, “We have created corona care and institutional quarantine facilities in Odisha with more than 3.5 lakh bed capacity. Thirty Five exclusive specialized Critical Care Hospitals for Covid patients have been made functional in different parts of the State. The infection level is well under control; and, community is quite aware and safe”. Sri Tripathy added, “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”. Chief Secretary further added, “State has followed policy consistency in matters of industrial promotion; and, now 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”.
Replying another query about comparative advantage of Odisha as an investment destination, Principal Secretary Sri Sharma said, “Political stability, policy consistency, economic stability, skilled manpower, lion share of country’s mineral deposit, large mining and industrial base, ready availability of land in developed industrial estates, quality power supply, ready to move setting for electronics and IT sectors along with sector specific facilitating policies have been the benchmark of Odisha”. Sri Sharma added, “Odisha is a pioneer State in having a stabilized single window clearance system for investment proposals. It is supported by a well developed institutional arrangement through IPICOL, Odisha. The State has been among Top-Five lead states in ‘ease of doing business’. Go-Swift Portal i.e. Single Window on-line Investor Facilitation and Tracking portal has been awarded with Excellence in Government process Re-Engineering for Digital Transformation at national level by Government of India for the year 2019-20.
Secretary Electronics and Information Technology Sri Manoj Mishra, replying to the investors said, “we have well developed electronic and manufacturing sector just close to the capital city. The State is rich with skilled manpower in electronic and IT”. Sri Mishra elaborated the IT and electronics eco-system already available in the State.
The Perspective Investors interacted with Chief Secretary and other senior officers of the State under the leadership of Dr Mukesh Aghi, President and CEO of USISPF. Dr Nitin Bhanudas Jawale, Chief Managing Director of IPICOL, Odisha coordinated the entire session. The investors were from various sectors like energy, agri-business, nutrition, aviation, information technology, metals and renewable energy. The leading industries who showed interest in the interaction included ATC, Avaada Energy, Carirn Energy, Cisco, Exxon Mobil, Herbalife, HP, Mars, Microsoft, Oracle and Paypal.
