Naveen Invites Investors To ‘Make-In-Odisha’ Conclave

Chennai: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday invited investors to the ‘Make-in-Odisha’ Conclave beginning in Bhubaneswar from November 11.

“It gives me immense pleasure to be with you here. Odisha, which was known as Kalinga in ancient times has a deep-rooted, vibrant and coherent association with Tamil Nadu. I look forward to this meaningful association blooming further. I take this opportunity to invite all of you to participate in the ‘Make-in-Odisha Conclave’, our flagship biennial global investors’ meet to showcase the manufacturing prowess of the state,” the Chief Minister said in his address at the Odisha Investors’ Meet here.

Stating that the first edition of the ‘Make-in-Odisha Conclave’ had evoked an enthusiastic response with its announcement of over Rs two lakh crore investment intent, Naveen said that since then, his government has demonstrated its commitment to deliver the projects on the ground. About 65 per cent of the projects are in various stages of approval and implementation.

Drawing the attention of the entrepreneurs at the meeting, the Chief Minster spoke about some of the major developments in Odisha, highlighting its significant investment potential.

“As you are aware, our natural strength lies in being a mineral-rich state. During the last 18 years, our government has focused on enhancing the production level of the key minerals, the value-added products. There has been a significant increase in the metal output and today, Odisha is the largest producer of steel, stainless steel and aluminium in the country. Enhancing and strengthening the infrastructure has been a priority of my government over the last 18 years. Accordingly, our port handling capacity has increased ten-folds to 190 million metric tonnes per annum. The power generation capacity has increased three-fold and road network has increased to over 50 per cent during this period,” he pointed out.

He further said that the state has been accomplishing path-breaking technologies and technological reforms to reduce to the physical business-to-developer (B2D) interface. Through the introduction of the first-of-its-kind GoSwift portal, the state has received 400 investment proposals within 10 months of its implementation.

“The government of Odisha has a single window investor facilitation and tracking portal along with several technological interventions. Odisha has been categorised as an achiever due to the facilitating ease of doing business by leveraging technology,” the Chief Minister observed.

He also said that the theme of ‘Make-in-Odisha Conclave’ 2018 is “I am Odisha,” which celebrates all the successes of Odisha and its people in creating a vibrant environment for business. “I am Odisha is a unique platform for the people to share their stories that showcase the Odisha of today and present their vision for the Odisha of the future.

Launching the Smart Odisha hackathon in the run-up to the ‘Make-in-Odisha Conclave’ in response to the tremendous response to the campaign by the local youth with inspirational stories, the Chief Minister called upon budding entrepreneurs and students to come up with innovative solutions to resolve the pressing challenges of public service delivery as well as those that concern the industry and the consumers. The shortlisted ideas will be implemented as pilot projects and winners will be awarded attractive prizes.

Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi and Industries Minister Ananta Das also spoke on the occasion.

The state government in association with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will host the second edition of the Make in Odisha Conclave in the capital city from November 11 to 15.