Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday said Bhubaneswar has emerged as one of the top investment-friendly cities to do business in India. While inaugurating HDFC Bank’s BPO, Skill Development and Training Centre at Infocity here, Patnaik said the city is also recognised as a major education hub in the eastern region.
Talking about HDFC’s new centre, the CM said: “I am given to understand that the centre will employ about 200 persons to start with for back-office operations and is expected to grow into a major all India business processing hub of the bank, employing more than 500 persons. Besides, it will be a major centre for skill development and training for the eastern region.”
Elaborating the efforts of state government to improve the investment climate in Odisha, Patnaik said: “We have taken up skill development in a big way and established the Odisha Skill Development Authority to provide overall direction for skill development programmes in different sectors.
“Our objective is to make Skilled-in-Odisha a global brand. I am happy to note that HDFC Bank is complementing the efforts of state government in this area and hope this skill development and training centre will provide greater employment opportunities for our youth.” The Chief Minister also expressed hope that the bank would open more number of banking outlets in unbanked gram panchayats. Patnaik assured his government’s support to the bank in this regard.
“HDFC Bank is one of the largest banks in the country and it has a respectable presence in all our 30 districts. I am particularly pleased to know that 65 per cent of its branches are located in semi-urban and rural areas. I am told that the bank has taken up sustainable livelihood initiative for empowerment of rural women benefiting over 3,30,000 families through joint liability groups and self-help groups with credit of about Rs 900 crore,” Patnaik added.
Chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said: “It is an honour that the project has come up in Infocity-1 which is actually the hub of the IT industry in our state.” HDFC managing director Aditya Puri said, “I am extremely happy that our new bank house has been set up in Chandrasekharpur and it’s a privilege that our honourable Chief Minister inaugurated it.” (PNN)
