Make in Odisha 2.0 may get global tag

State in talks with Japan, Germany, UK and China, seeks more than one partner country for second conclave

After tasting success at its inaugural edition, the second conclave of Make in Odisha, the showpiece event for investments is set to get bigger with global participation.

For the second  conclave scheduled on November 11-15 next year, the Odisha government in in talks to rope in more than one partner country.

"We have initiated some talks with Japan, Germany, UK and China. The government would follow up with some roadshows in these countries as well as domestically in the run up to our next investment conclave. Depending on the feedback, we can have their participation as partner country. Ideally, we are looking at more than one partner country for the event”, said a government official.

Like the previous edition, the next Make in Odisha conclave would see the state government partnering the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). As many as 5,000 companies- domestic and overseas are to be invited for the mega event.

At the last year's conference, the state government drew investment intents worth Rs 2,03,000 crore across 10 sectors. Though the focus was on attracting investment in emerging areas and thrust sectors identified by the state government, metal sector emerged as the highest grosser with about Rs 97,000 crore investments. The thrust sectors listed in the state's Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR) are petrochemicals, chemicals & plastics, tourism, electronics manufacturing, food processing including seafood, textiles & apparel and ancillary & downstream industries in metal sector.

Apart from the six identified thrust sectors, the focus at the ensuing conclave would also be on drawing investments in healthcare and automobiles where Odisha needs to catch up with peer states.

T K Chand, chairman of CII's Odisha State Council and Nalco's CMD said, “In our view, Odisha can become big not only by focusing on mines and minerals, its core strengths, but also by looking at other sectors such as food processing, IT and electronics, petro-chemicals, chemicals and education. The Odisha government under the leadership of the chief minister Naveen Patnaik, has already taken some measures to attract investments in sectors other than mines and minerals, and CII is extremely happy that Odisha is steadily building its new areas of strength for the future.”

"To its credit, the state has prepared business friendly policies. Improving basic infrastructure for setting up business can be the key area of improvement,” he added.

The state government, meanwhile, is going ahead with its roadshows to promote Odisha as a favoured investment destination. Investor roadshows are lined up in Mumbai on November 30-December 1. A delegation led by the state chief secretary A P Padhi would meet investors in the thrust sectors.

In parallel, CII is hosting its 21st edition of 'Enterprise Odisha' from December 7-11 in Bhubaneswar.

"CII works very closely with the state government. We always provide industry inputs to the state government for building a robust industrial climate in the state. The upcoming 21st edition of  CII Enterprise Odisha to be held in the state capital from December 7-11 in Bhubaneswar from is a focused CII initiative to showcase the state among the major investors from across the country and beyond,” said Arun Misra, vice chairman, CII Odisha & vice president (Project Gopalpur), Tata Steel (Gopalpur Project) and managing director, Tata Steel SEZ Ltd.