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Odisha's efforts to reinvent its investment image has helped garner fresh investment intentions at the roadshows staged earlier this year in Mumbai, Bengaluru and of late, the showpiece event- 'Make in Odisha' conclave.
Total investment intentions from the three events is around Rs 3.5 lakh crore. However, their translation into formal proposals by investors and consequential implementation remains a sore point.
The state government had staged its roadshow in Mumbai in February under the aegis of Government of India's 'Make in India' week. This was followed by Global Investors' Summit in August, in Bengaluru. Fourteen companies lined up investment plans worth Rs 70959 crore in Mumbai. Bengaluru had a bigger turnout with 29 companies with investment intentions totaling Rs 90,670 crore across sectors.
Official data shows most of the investment proposals bagged at the two meets have remained non-starters so far. With the exception of three to four companies- NLC Ltd (formerly Neyveli Lignite), Gitanjali Gems & Jewellery, ITC and Deepak Fertilisers, fresh investments by other companies have not even translated into formal proposals.
"Most of the new investment proposals are still being followed up by the state government. We are regularly pursuing the intentions with the companies as we have now the mandate to speed up implementation”, said a senior government official.
So, what ails the investment intentions after they are announced?
Ramesh Mohapatra, president at the Utkal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (UCCI) feels, the companies have no actual intention to invest, they are doing so only at the behest of the state government.
"The government is pursuing the companies to come and invest in Odisha at the roadshows. With the government’s invitation they are signing pacts with the state but not putting up the units. If the companies do it suo moto, it would be more effective. It would be nice if 20 per cent of proposals are implemented”, he said.
Indeed, Odisha's conversion rate of investment proposals is nowhere appealing. In the last 10 years, only Rs 2.8 lakh crore investment intentions have gone into the implementation stage, compared to Rs 8.85 lakh crore proposals bagged by the state.
However, Odisha, now, has targets to implement fresh investments of at least Rs 1.5 lakh crore in the next three years. The message to keep to this target has come from none other than the chief minister himself.
To help work out the targeted investments, the state government has decided to constitute committees made up by senior ministers and bureaucrats to oversee the pace of implementation of projects.
A five-member inter-ministerial committee is to be formed headed by industries minister Debi Prasad Mishra. The panel will have ministers for steel & mines, energy, forest & environment and MSMEs (micro, small & medium enterprises) as members.
At the bureaucratic level, it has been proposed to constitute a task force headed by the chief secretary Aditya Padhi. This task force comprising other senior bureaucrats from key departments, will review the status of implementation of the investments proposed in every three months.
But how does Odisha hope to up the implementation tempo? The focus, a government official, points out, would be more on easing business procedures by complying with 'Ease of Doing Business' reforms to translate intentions into actual investments. In January 2017, the state industries department will talk to the interested companies in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. The key focus area is apparel manufacturing where the state government is eyeing implementation of projects worth Rs 600 crore, creating 30,000 new jobs.
After the Make in Odisha conclave held from November 30 to December 2, the state was quick to convene a meeting of its Single Window Clearance Authority. But only, proposals worth Rs 3000 crore announced at the meet, were approved. One older proposal by NLC for a coal-fired power plant worth Rs 11,783 crore got referred to the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) as the Single Window is not empowered to clear a project whose investment size exceeds Rs 1000 crore.
As a report by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) pointed out, the lack of adequate HLCA meetings had slowed the pace of implementation of mega projects.
"No meeting of HLCA was held after September 2012 up to March 2014. Eleven proposals for setting up industries with investment of Rs 59,491.64 crore were delayed by one to 18 months. Issues such as industrial development, promotion of foreign direct investment, environment management, land policy, peripheral development, ancillary and downstream development, promotion of frontier industries did not find mention in the minutes”, CAG had stated in its report on Economic Sector for the year ended March 2014.
Odisha's Industrial Policy Resolution mandates the HLCA should meet at least once in a quarter to review issues pertaining to industrial development such as promotion of foreign direct investment, environment management, land policy, peripheral development, ancillary and downstream development, promotion of frontier industries.
The HLCA helmed by the chief minister last met in September 2015 wherein it cleared Rs 41900 crore of investment proposals.
