The Odisha Government in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) held an investors’ meet in Jamshedpur to showcase the investment potential of the state in the metal, metal downstream, chemical and other sectors.

Dibya Shankar Mishra, Minister for Industries; Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises & Home, Hemant Sharma Industries Secretary, Bhupendra Singh Poonia MD IPICOL & IDCO and senior officials of industries department and IPICOL attended the investors meet on 13 and 14 April, which was attended by more than 120 delegates representing various large scale and MSME industries across Jharkhand.

 “There exist similarities between Odisha and Jharkhand. The senior government officials including the minister of Industries of Odisha are here to interact with the Industry representatives of Jharkhand. It bears testimony to both the flourishing industrial development in Jharkhand as well as the commitment of the leadership of Odisha towards industrial growth vision for the state”, Tapas Sahu, Chairman, CII Jharkhand State Council said.

 “Odisha contributes 34.3% of the total mineral production in the country and we are the number one producer of Chromite, Nickel, Bauxite, Manganese and Iron Ore. Odisha has the capacity to produce around 30 Million Tonnes of Steel every year, which is expected to grow up to 100 Million Tonnes by 2030. Further, we have the vision to develop downstream units in the Metal Sector to achieve more than 50% value addition to the primary metal produced in the State” the industries minister Mishra said.

The Industries secretary Hemant Sharma presented the Investment potential in Odisha and emphasized the stable government of the state, its progressive policies, natural advantages, industry-led infrastructure development, availability of the industrial land and highly skilled human resources, which gives the state a competitive advantage over others.

Sharma also highlighted the ready-to-move industrial lands across the state and the competitive power and water tariffs to set up industries and manufacturing units.

The state government has developed industry-specific investment clusters such as National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ), Kalinganagar, Aluminium Park at Angul, Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment. Region (PCPIR) at Paradip, Seafood Park at Deras,  Technical Textile park at Bhadrak, TATA SEZ in Gopalpur, Paradip plastic park and Electronics manufacturing cluster (ESDM park) in Bhubaneswar and has investor-friendly policies, incentives and infrastructures to promote investments and create employment.

Concluding the summit, MD IPICOL & IDCO Poonia said “Odisha is now well equipped with all necessary infrastructure and invited the investors from Jharkhand to expand and explore new avenues in the state of Odisha”.

He also appreciated and thanked the investors for attending the summit and thanked CII for inviting such a large gathering.

The Government of Odisha delegation also interacted with more than 20 potential investors from sectors such as downstream & ancillary in the metal sector, renewable energy and chemical in a one-to-one format.

The state industries department has organized various such meets in the recent past in the cities and is planning to organize more in the coming days.