Odisha woos investors with low wages, land availability; holds investors meet

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Wednesday held an investors meet here ahead of the 'Make in Odisha' conclave in November with the state highlighting low wages and land availability as competitive advantages to attract investment.

Patnaik said his administration has demonstrated its commitment to deliver projects on ground "using the mantra of teamwork, technology and transparency".

"In last six months we conducted ground breaking ceremonies of 50 project entailing an investment of over Rs 17,000 crore," he said at the well-attended function.

The state government had organised a similar event in Mumbai in August, inviting industrialists for the 'Make in Odisha' event being organised in Bhubaneswar between November 11-15. Japan is the partner country this year.

Jindal Steel and Power Limited Chairman Naveen Jindal and OYO Room founder CEO Ritesh Agarwal were among the industrialists who attended the meeting.

Jindal said Odisha has a lot of advantages such as better connectivity through ports, improved infrastructure and a stable government, and the group has invested over Rs 45,000 crore in the state.

The OYO CEO said that the state policies are investor-friendly and attractive, and the company has become a leading hotel chain in the state in the last two years.

SMS group India MD and CEO Marc Hoffmann and Shahi Group chairman Harish Ahuja were also present.

In his address, Patnaik said, Odisha is a mineral rich state, accounting for 54 per cent aluminium production and the state government is preparing a vision 2030 document for development of ancillary units in the metal sector.

Odisha is also a power surplus state where electricity generation has increased by three folds and road network has enhanced by 50 per cent. The port capacity has increased from 20.5 MMT to 190 MMT, he said.

"Odisha has a visible start-up initiative; 250 start-ups have been registered and we are posed to be among the top three start-up of India by 2020," he added.

Later talking to media, state industry secretary Sanjeev Chopra said state has a competitive advantage over well-known investor destinations such as Maharashtra and Gujarat because of cheap labour, land availability and low cost of living. He said that dedicated sector-specific clusters and over 1,20,000 acres of land bank were available for industrial development.