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Bhubaneswar, Nov 28: The state government is in talks with Japan, Germany, UK and China to partner with it for the second Make in Odisha (MIO-2) conclave proposed to be held from November 11 to November 15 next year.
“The government will hold road shows in these countries. We are looking at more than one partner country for the event,” a government official said.
As with the first edition of Make in Odisha, the next would also see the government partnering with Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). As many as 5,000 companies — domestic and overseas are to be invited to the mega event.
At last year’s conference, the state government drew investment intents for `2,03,000 crore across 10 sectors. Though the focus was on attracting investment in emerging areas and thrust sectors identified by the state government, metal sector emerged as the highest grosser with about `97,000 crore investments. The thrust sectors listed in the state’s Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR) are petrochemicals, chemicals & plastics, tourism, electronics manufacturing, food processing including seafood, textiles & apparel and ancillary & downstream industries in metal sector.
Apart from the six identified thrust sectors, the focus at the ensuing conclave would also be on drawing investments in healthcare and automobiles where Odisha needs to catch up with peer states.
“In our view, Odisha can become big not only by focusing on mines and minerals, its core strengths, but also by looking at other sectors such as food processing, IT and electronics, petrochemicals, chemicals and education. The Odisha government has already taken some measures to attract investments in sectors other than mines and minerals, and CII is extremely happy that Odisha is steadily building its new areas of strength for the future,” T K Chand, chairman of CII’s Odisha State Council and Nalco’s CMD said.
