FILE PHOTO OF NAVEEN PATNAIK WITH INDUSTRIALISTS

By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, June 23, 2018: The Odisha government is all set to stage roadshows in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Milan (Italy), and Germany sometime next month to attract investments to the state, officials said here.

The state is organizing both domestic and foreign roadshows to solicit investor participation in the second edition of Make in Odisha summit, scheduled to be held here from November 11 to November 15.

“Our thrust at the overseas roadshows will be on pulling investments in aluminium downstream space and textiles. We are trying to get more investments for the aluminium park being developed at Angul. The foreign roadshow would kick off at Riyadh,” said Sanjeev Chopra, the state principal secretary industries.

The state government is also looking at partner country collaboration for the upcoming Make in Odisha conclave, “We are looking at one or two countries (with) whom we can collaborate. But, our tie-up would be sector agnostic,” Chopra added.

The Naveen Patnaik headed government has already picked up the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) for the showpiece event. Odisha Industries Minister Ananta Das said that Ficci has agreed to the idea and would facilitate corporate participation for the event.

At the inaugural edition of Make in Odisha in December 2016, Odisha drew investment intents valued at Rs 2.03 trillion at the event. Sixty per cent of those investments are now in various stages of approval or implementation, the minister said.

Over the past four years, the state has made rapid strides in attracting manufacturing investments — with 118 large projects approved, promising employment for 128,572 people. The average time taken for approval of projects has also narrowed to 20 days from the date of receipt of a completed project application. In ‘ease of doing business’ reforms, Odisha has drastically improved its compliance rate from 52.12 per cent in 2015 to 97.83 per cent in 2017.