Adur Pradeep, OP
Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has the right approach in attracting investors, says the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (Assocham).
“Odisha is now the third largest investment destination for domestic as well as international investors according to our studies. There are 900 live projects in the state that has attracted nearly Rs 13 lakh crore (Rs 13,000 billion) out of an all-India figure of Rs 177 lakh crore. But the most important thing is that the rate of implementation in Odisha has gone up,” Assocham General Secretary DS Rawat told Orissa Post.
“This means more investment and faster implementation in the state’s food processing and infrastructure sectors. These two sectors create much more value addition,” Rawat, who was in the city to release an Assocham report on Indian ports last week pointed out.
He said that the Odisha government must adopt a much more aggressive marketing policy to attract investors.
“The government will have to be proactive which they are… and we greatly admire the attitude of the state, but they will have to be much more aggressive in marketing their policies.”
“We have created a special department of Assocham in Delhi for a few states… Odisha is one among them. We have been marketing Odisha’s policies through our diplomatic missions abroad as well as to foreign diplomatic missions in India.”
“We have been trying to get investors connected with the state government and we have already achieved many successes,” Rawat said.
Assocham is also thinking of setting up their office in the state. “We haven’t been able to open our office in Odisha so far. We are keen to start operations here, and in another six months you will find that Assocham has a full-fledged office in Bhubaneswar.”
On the leading investment destinations in the country he said, “Well, the leading states are Maharashtra and Gujarat but when it comes to investment implementation Odisha is in the lead.”
Rawat also said it is too early to gauge whether the country’s economy has recovered from demonetisation and GST.
“From the second quarter’s figures we cannot conclude the economy is back on track. It was festival season and sales figures would be better. The most worrying factor is agriculture. As far as farmers are concerned they are in a miserable condition. So that’s an area of big concern,” Rawat said.
“As far as industry is concerned there are many sectors which have not yet recovered. If the scene continues to improve for another six months only can we conclude that things have started happening,” he added.
On the precarious job scenario in the country he said, “As far as jobs are concerned the situation is extremely worrying. Demonetisation has definitely eroded the base of the informal economy and many jobs were lost. Rural economy also was definitely hit by demonetisation. Then came GST…it has suddenly reduced jobs in small units. They are facing a huge crisis.”
He said that GST is a good idea, but the way it is being implemented created a lot of confusion and misery for commoners.
“GST has created many avoidable problems and the job situation will be much more worrying due to two reasons. One, due to automation many companies will reduce jobs. Secondly, new investments are not coming and that is most worrying. New investment must come and that too in small and medium enterprises. Only then can jobs be created.”
Talking about the industry body’s expectations from the Union Budget, he said, “We think that the government does not have much money. There are many sectors which have started complaining. For example the real estate sector is in deep trouble. The new sector which has started complaining is the solar energy sector. The government has only limited options. It happens to be the last budget of this government. But I hope that it will not be a populist one as the budget needs to focus on two issues…small and medium enterprises and the rural economy. These sectors were neglected and concrete programmes are needed to create jobs.”