By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, July 24, 2018: The Odisha government on Tuesday approved four investment proposals worth Rs 348.5 crore. These projects if implemented would create employment opportunities for close to 6000 people, an official statement said.

The government’s nod to the projects came during the 79th meeting of the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi

The proposals approved in the meeting belong to a variety of industries- pharmaceuticals, textiles, downstream industries in metals and minerals..

The SLSWCA accorded approval to a Kolkata-based pharmaceutical company to set up a unit for production of intravenous fluids at Ramdaspur in Cuttack at an investment of Rs. 64.95 crore. The plant’s production capacity will be 6.36 crore bottles per annum and the project will create direct and indirect employment for 365 people. This will be the first such manufacturing unit in the pharmaceutical industry of Odisha.

The Angul Aluminium Park being developed as an exclusive state-of-the-art industrial park for ancillary and downstream industries for alumina and aluminium received a big boost with two investment proposals being approved by the SLSWCA.

The first one was from a leading Mumbai-based manufacturer of aluminium conductors to set up a greenfield manufacturing unit at the Angul Aluminium Park with an annual capacity of 40,000 metric tonnes with an investment outlay of Rs 56.3 crores. This project has employment potential for 200 persons.

Besides, a Rajasthan-based cables company has proposed to establish a 30,000 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) manufacturing plant to produce aluminium conductors at an investment of Rs 50.30 crore at the Angul Aluminium Park. This project has an employment potential for 130 people.

The Angul Aluminium Park is the first-of-its-kind in the Indian sub-continent with facility for directly obtaining molten aluminium from the smelter.

The SLSWCA also approved the 300th proposal received by GO-SWIFT from a leading Kerala-based apparel manufacturer a few days ago to set up a unit for knitting, fabric processing and garment manufacturing at Tata Steel’s SEZ at Gopalpur in Ganjam district with an investment of Rs 177 crore. The project will create employment opportunities for over 5,000 people, with a majority of them being women.

With the objective of attracting 2.5 lakh crore of fresh investments and generating 30 lakh job opportunities as part of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s Vision – 2025, the Odisha government is diversifying and broadening the state’s industrial development across the focus sectors.

Padhi also reviewed the progress of the projects approved earlier through Single Window System, which revealed that Odisha has been a leading state in conversion of investment intentions to real project proposals. Out of total 124 intents expressed in Make in Odisha Conclave, so far 76 intents have been converted to concrete industrial proposals. Out of this, 61 projects have already been approved through single window system. Other projects are in various phases of examination and clearance.

Padhi also directed the Collectors and other filed level officials to provide all sorts of facilitating help for early grounding and commissioning of the projects in their areas.

Odisha’s investor-friendly policies and the development of world-class infrastructure have received very positive feedback from investors across the country as the State has been able to create an ideal business ecosystem for various sectors to flourish in the state, the officials said.

Industry principal secretary Sanjeeb Chopra informed the SLSWCA that subsequent to the Make in Odisha Conclave 2016, the first groundbreaking ceremony was held in November last year for 15 manufacturing units which grounded investments worth Rs 11,690 crore with scope to generate 8,187 jobs. The second groundbreaking ceremony in June, 2018 witnessed the inauguration of 7 manufacturing units and groundbreaking of 12 units with cumulative investment grounded at Rs 2,675 crore with potential to create 8953 jobs.

The second edition of the biennial Make in Odisha Conclave 2018 has been scheduled to be held in Bhubaneswar from November 11-15 this year.