At least in figure game, Odisha has hit the bull’s eye when in the first-ever mega business event held here from November 30 to December 2, the State received investment intentions worth a whopping Rs 2.32 lakh crore having a potential of a huge 1.4 lakh jobs.
And with the figures giving the confidence, the State Government, on the lines of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, decided to hold such Make in Odisha Conclaves biannually, the next event to be held in 2018. A permanent convention venue worth Rs 307crore in memory of Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das would be coming up soon, declared Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra.
However, a detailed look of the intentions reveals that the metallurgical sector still remains the investment engine for Odisha as the sector has received the maximum amount of proposals to the tune of Rs 97, 911 crore, which is nearly 48 per cent of the total declared intentions. Infrastructure bagged the second spot with an amount worth Rs 38, 493 crore being followed by the power and renewable energy sector with Rs 29, 932 crore.
With the PCPIR region coming up in Odisha courtesy the Paradip Oil Refinery, the petrochemical sector attracted Rs 27, 203 crore. Though textile has been the Government’s focus area, this sector could garner a mere Rs 172 crore. Significantly, textile has been a labour-intensive sector and also gives employment to unskilled labour.
Similarly, other labour-intensive industries, tourism and food processing, attracted Rs 2,076 crore and Rs 2,101 crore, respectively. Tourism commitments came in the form of multiplexes in all district headquarters.
Healthcare got Rs 1, 392 crore investment intentions, IT and ESDM received Rs 15,00 crore and manufacturing Rs 2,685 crore.
Another interesting revelation is success of ‘Make in Odisha’ apparently hinges largely on Central PSUs like Nalco, NTPC, MCl, SAIl and IOCl. Only a few private players like Adani, JSW, Tata and PPl, who have existing ventures, committed increased investments in the State.
However, in textiles and food processing, two foreign companies, from Italy and Bangladesh, expressed their intention to set up their units. The Italy-based company is to set up a unit in Kalahandi and the one of Bangladesh is to set a unit in Bhubaneswar.
The green-shoots in business transformation visible from the summit: Odisha has now started receiving proposals for building of photovoltaic cells to see a big leap in solar power.