Odisha plans meet at Delhi to woo IT and hardware units

The state govt proposes to hold a day-long interaction with these companies at New Delhi on February 8

In a bid to woo the IT (information technology) and hardware manufacturing companies to invest in Odisha, the state government intends to approach about 50 companies belonging to the IT/ITes/ ESDM (electronic system design manufacturing) sector.

The state government proposes to hold a day-long interaction with these companies at New Delhi on February 8.

"After the unveiling of the new ICT policy, such interactions is timely and the focus will be on bringing the ESDM units to the state," said an official at the Office of the Principal Resident Commissioner, Government of Odisha, at New Delhi.

The invited IT and hardware companies include TCS, Accenture, AMS semi-conductors among others.

"The objective of the daylong event is to present before potential investors the growing opportunities in the IT/ITes/ESDM sector and investor friendly policies of the state government which make Odisha as one the most attractive investment destinations in the country," wrote Sunil Kumar Bhargavan, Principal Resident Commissioner, Odisha, to the state IT, Industries and MSME departments.

These departments have been requested to prepare presentations on the state's ICT policy, industrial policy and MSME policy highlighting the existing facility and business environment for the benefit of the participants.

"We propose to invite the top management of leading IT hardware and ESDM companies of the country to participate and take full advantage of the opportunity to direct their resources to the state," he wrote. The Odisha government is making strides for transforming the state into a premier ESDM hub with finalisation of Strategic Roadmap for Development of ESDM Sector and initiation of steps for establishment of characterization lab for reliability testing of the chips etc.

The newly announced ICT policy-2014 of the state government aims to achieve a gross ICT turnover of Rs 24,000 crore by 2020.