Naveen Patnaik’s government today made an impressive business pitch to Indian and global investors to Make in Odisha and ‘Join the Juggernaut’. A word derived from the mighty Lord Jagannath, his overwhelming force and symbolic of Odisha’s growth trajectory. Accompanied by 54 corporate Sarathi’s (charioteers) Patnaik today vowed to make his state a trillion dollar economy in the near future.
“Odisha is destined to become a trillion-dollar economy in near future. We will emerge as the gateway to East and South East Asia. I invite you to come and invest in a New Odisha,” the chief minister said. With an assurance that his government will run the extra mile to make the investors comfortable in Odisha, he added, “our investor-friendly initiatives and transformatory governance has put us on a journey of progress and prosperity. I invite each one of you to come join us on this journey.”
Placing its bets on political stability of 22 years, promises of cheapest land, labour and logistics; robust growth figures and progressive policies to provide a conducive business environment Patnaik government was successful in exchanging 21 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and 46 Investment Intent Forms (IIF) worth ₹585,742.26cr.
Day 1 of the Make in Odisha Conclave 2022, of the third Edition of Odisha’s flagship investor summit organized by the Government of Odisha in collaboration with Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), witnessed the presence of global leaders, 54 industry captains, 12,000 individual registrations, 212 exhibitors, participants from 11 countries and several industry leaders at the 2 plenary sessions and 8 sectorial sessions. The state launched the Industrial Policy Resolution 2022 which focusses on making Odisha the destination of choice for industrial enterprises across the country and globally.
For the first time in any state investors’ conclave, 5 financial institutions attended an investment summit which included BSE, NSE, SBI, SIDBI and IFC of the World Bank Group. 2 MoUs were also signed with BSE and NSE, and Govt of Odisha for assisting the MSMEs of the state to get listed on the MSME exchange of BSE.
In a joint venture with Nippon Steel Lakshmi Niwas Mittal owned ArcelorMittal will be setting up a 24 million tonnes plant in Odisha. Mittal endorsed the speed of governance in Odisha and congratulated Odisha for creating an environment of doing business with ease in record time.
Karan Adani, CEO, Adani Ports promised an investment of over Rs. 60,000 crore in the coming 10 years. The group is planning for 35 berths and a 5 MT LNG terminal at Dhamra Port, an alumina refinery and an iron ore project which will create thousands of jobs in the state.
JSW Group Chairman, Sajjan Jindal announced that the group will invest about Rs1 lakh crore more in Odisha for setting up a steel plant in Paradip and silicon metal plant to produce solar panels. He mentioned that the Group has already invested ₹60,000 crore in the state. ‘With current mineral revenue of Rs. 10,000 – Rs.40,000 crore, Odisha is soon to become a trillion dollar economy,’ Jindal stated.
Anil Agarwal, Chairman & Founder, Vedanta Resources along with Naveen Patnaik, virtually laid the foundation stone of Vedanta Aluminium Park, stated to be India’s largest metal park. He appreciated the government’s resilient approach towards business growth and mentioned the Group’s investment of over ₹1 lakh crore while creating direct and indirect livelihood for 5 lakhs people in the state.
Make in Odisha Conclave aims to provide a platform for industry participation and discuss growth and development opportunities for key sectors like agro & food processing, tourism, IT & ITEs, mining & metallurgy, chemicals & petrochemicals, and Green Energy.