By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, October 25, 2020: Keeping in line with the fierce competition among states to woo investment, Odisha government is working on a new, attractive and progressive industrial policy resolution (IPR).

In 2015, the IPR was revised. But in the last five years, the states are competing for investment from both the domestic and foreign investment. The proposed IPR primarily is being designed to attract investors in various sectors.

Besides the industrial policy, several sector-based policies are also in the pipeline, official sources said.

The IPR 2015 had incentive provisions. However, with many states revising their IPR offering attractive incentives to lure investors, the officials are now reviewing their policies and the incentives (both fiscal and non-fiscal) to develop the new IPR, sources added.

“We are now discussing about various provisions made by other states. We continue to be one of the favoured destinations of investors. With a revised policy, we will be able to draw more investment”, said an official.

The new IPR is expected to offer incentives in power tariff and water supply and may allow more tax relief, especially to non-mineral industries. It will also aim to provide land without much hassles through land bank and industrial infrastructure facilities like dedicated industrial clusters being developed at various places like the petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals investment region (PCPIR) in Paradip, steel hub in Kalinganagar, aluminium park in Angul, Infovalley near the state capital, food park near Khurda and textile park in Bhadrak.

Most importantly, the proposed IPR is likely to focus on growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and startups in the state. The official said the state government wants to offer the best incentives to investors in the revised policy.

The state industries department said the government has received 286 business intents worth Rs 6.26 lakh crore in the last five years, of which the single window system has cleared 212 proposals worth Rs 5.28 crore. These projects are under various stages of implementation.

Even as the government has nine sector-specific policies to draw investments in apparel, handloom, textiles, biotechnology, food processing, tourism, pharmaceutical and renewable energy, it has planned to bring about three more sector-specific policies. These include the BPO policy, the Odisha State Data Policy and IT and electronics policy, said an official source.