US delegation to visit Orissa on Nov 14-17 to firm up investment proposals

A delegation of the Washington State India Trade Relations Action Committee (WASITRAC) is scheduled to visit Orissa during November 14-17 this year to firm up investment proposals in sectors like information technology, tourism, hospitality and higher education.

"The WASITRAC delegation would explore opportunities for business across different sectors. The delegation is also likely to give a final shape to some of the investment proposals made at the Invest Bhubaneswar Symposium held at California in July this year”, said state industries secretary Saurabh Garg.

Investments worth over Rs 6,000 crore likely to flow into the state in sectors like information technology, hospitality, green energy and education.

A high-level delegation of the Orissa government which had visited US to lure potential investors seems to have pulled it off for the state.

The investors, mainly the Indian diaspora had evinced interest in pumping investments in Orissa at the Invest Bhubaneswar symposium held at California.

Topping the lists of the prospective investors is Gokul Agrawal of CTC Education Pvt Ltd who intends to invest Rs 6,000 crore over five years in developing a 1,000-acre knowledge city.

In the higher education sector, Silicon University of the Silicon Valley Group has proposed to set up its campus in the state at a cost of Rs 300 crore.

Investments would also be pouring in for the state's hospitality sector with the US-based Best Western Hotel lining up a Rs 100-crore investment plan for setting up a chain of properties at Bhubaneswar, Paradip, Chilka and Jharsuguda.

The delegation from Orissa had also met a Japanese delegation exploring opportunities to invest in high technology areas. A number of ideas were exchanged between the two delegations to bring the Japanese companies to Orissa and specifically to Bhubaneswar.

The delegation consisted of the state minister for revenue and disaster management S N Patro; state minister for tourism, higher education and culture Debi Prasad Mishra; information technology minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi; Bhubaneswar MLA Ashok Panda; industries secretary Saurabh Garg , higher education secretary Madhusudhan Padhee and other secretaries including Mona Sharma and Ashok Meena.