Odisha receives 145 investment proposals worth Rs 7.26 lakh crore so far in biz conclave

The Odisha government said it has so far received 145 investment proposals worth over Rs 7.26 lakh crore in the current edition of the business summit.

The Naveen Patnaik government signed 21 MoUs with various companies on the second day of the 'Make In Odisha' Conclave 2022 on Thursday.

The JSW Group alone committed an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore in the state, an official said.

Odisha Industry secretary Hemant Sharma stated that the investment intents worth Rs 7,26,128.45 crore, if grounded, would create employment opportunities for over 3.20 lakh people.

The third edition of the business summit was attended by representatives of different corporate houses such as LN Mittal, Anil Agarwal, Sajjan Jindal, TV Narendran, Naveen Jindal, Karan Adani, Praveer Sinha and delegates from 11 countries.

During the day, the state government unveiled 'Renewable Energy Policy 2022' in the programme.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has already assured the investors of all support for setting up their projects.

While addressing the conclave, JSW Group Chairman Sajjan Jindal said the company has already committed Rs 60,000 crore during the previous event in 2018 and of which, over Rs 30,000 crore has been invested and the remaining amount will be pumped in soon.

''Today, we make a commitment to invest another Rs 1 lakh crore in the state in various sectors,'' the JSW chief said on Thursday, adding that the investment will be made in building a mega greenfield steel plant in Paradip, a silicon facility which will be used for making solar panels, and in renewable energy and many other areas.

He, however, suggested that the state government should strengthen infrastructure.

"The more we will create infrastructure, the more investors will come," he said.

Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd Chief Executive Officer Karan Adani said the company has invested Rs 7,600 crore in Odisha and the planned capital investment will exceed Rs 60,000 crore over the next ten years.

"Our investments in the state continue to accelerate and in the last five years, the Adani Group has already put in Rs 7,600 crore as we have gone about developing LNG terminals, the Dhamra port and our mining activities," he said.

The Adani Group's primary interests in Odisha are in ports and logistics, industrial clusters and special economic zones, power generation, transmission, and distribution, integrated natural resource management, renewable energy, data centres, defence, cement, and agri-businesses, he said.

Adani announced that the LNG terminal with 5 million tonne capacity in Dhamra will commission in December this year, and the projects entailed an investment of Rs 5,200 crore.

"We have already planned to double this capacity in the next five years," he said.

Vedanta Ltd Chairman Anil Agarwal said his company is the biggest investor in Odisha by pumping in Rs 80,000 crore and set to invest another Rs 25,000 crore in proposed aluminium park at Jharsuguda.

He urged industrialists to invest in Odisha as it has a ''conducive business environment''.

Addressing the plenary session of the conclave, ArcelorMittal Executive Chairman Lakshmi Niwas Mittal said, ''In a JV (joint venture) with Nippon Steel, we are setting up a 24-million tonne plant in Odisha.'' Mittal recalled his relationship with Odisha's former chief minister Biju Patnaik, the father of Naveen Patnaik.

During his speech, the businessman highlighted how the Odisha government had accelerated work for which he could sign an MoU within two hours for setting up a steel mill in Kendrapara district.

Jindal Stainless Managing Director Abhyuday Jindal announced that the CM laid the foundation stone for its Jindal Stainless Steel Park in the state.

He said the steel park ''would benefit MSMEs to a large extent and make the state a role model for investment''.

Tata Steel Ltd CEO and MD TV Narendran said the company has already set up a greenfield steel mill at Kalinga Nagar and acquired Bhusan Steel Plant at Meramundali and NINL.

''The company has become the highest steel producer in Odisha. We already have a production capacity of eight million tonne in the state and in this fiscal, we are planning to double the capacity," he said.

Essar Capital Director Prashant Ruia outlined the company's investment plans for setting up several projects worth Rs 52,000 crore.

Essar, in partnership with an international player, also proposes to develop 7.5 MMTPA crude to petrochemical complex (CTC) involving an investment of around Rs 40,000 crore, he said.