How Odisha's land bank is speeding up investments, avoiding repeat of Posco

Historically, unavailability of land or inordinate delay in acquisition has been a key irritant to setting up of large industries in the state

The land bank scheme of the Odisha government, with over 100,000 acres in the pool, is helping the state cement investor interest and accelerate the pace of implementation of fresh investments.

Historically, unavailability of land or inordinate delay in acquisition has been a key irritant to setting up of large industries. Big-ticket investors such as Posco and ArcelorMittal bumped into land hurdles and eventually had their projects aborted in Odisha. Between them, the two steel giants proposed mega scale projects whose combined investments totaled over Rs one trillion.

Having learnt bitter lessons in land buying, the state government decided to create land