Odisha Set To Become World-Class Industrial Destination: Chief Minister

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday said Odisha is set to achieve its goal of becoming a world-class industrial destination due to effective governance mechanism.

Addressing the 93rd Annual general meeting of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) on virtual platform that had a special session with the theme ‘Aspiring Odisha for Inspiring India’, the Chief Minister said Odisha is fast emerging as the ‘Manufacturing Hub of Eastern India’. “My government has always endeavoured for a holistic business environment for the investors in Odisha,” he said.

Stating that Odisha was ranked number 1 in terms of attracting investments during April-September 2019 and is poised to continue this leadership position, he expressed happiness over the encouraging investor sentiment towards the state. Even during COVID pandemic times, the state has been able to attract new investments of over Rs 1 lakh crore across multiple sectors.

Besides investments, Odisha is also focussed on grounding the projects. In the recent past, new industrial projects were launched in diverse sectors ranging from healthcare, and renewable energy to steel, aluminium, IT and food processing, he added.

Naveen said Odisha is targeting specific focus sectors including the ancillary and downstream to metal sector. “We are working towards further value addition in major industrial regions such as Angul and Jharsuguda for aluminium downstream and Kalingnagar for steel downstream. Further, Paradeep is being developed as the hub for chemicals and petrochemical industries,” he added.

He said Odisha is implementing path breaking technological reforms to reduce physical interface for availing government services. The transformational initiatives under ‘5T’ charter and ‘MO SARKAR’ have played a major role in creating a conducive business environment in the State by inculcating professionalism and behavioural change in the state government agencies, he added.

He requested the FICCI to nominate dedicated sectoral teams to work with respective departments in the Government of Odisha especially in important sectors such as food processing, chemical, tourism and IT.

The chief minister appreciated FICCI’s partnership in multi-dimensional progress spanning across investment promotion, policy advocacy, and promoting entrepreneurship, especially among women and start-ups. With over 90 years of history, FICCI has been doing a remarkable job in the industrial development of India, he said. Appreciating FICCI’s role in the success of the second edition of Make in Odisha Conclave, he asked for similar support for the third edition.

The session started with the welcome address by Dr Sangita Reddy, president, FICCI, MD, Apollo Hospitals, who spoke about the investor-friendly industrial climate of Odisha.
This was followed by a video presentation on how Odisha, under the able leadership of Chief Minister transformed the state into an industrial powerhouse within two decades and how in spite of economic slowdown due to COVID-19, Odisha could get very high levels of investment in this period.

Industry leaders Harsh Pati Singhania, MD, JK Paper Limited and Sandip Somany, MD, HSIL also spoke. Chief Secretary, Development Commissioner, Agriculture Production Commissioner, Industries Department principal secretary, CMD IDCO and MD IPICOL attended.

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