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Odisha has secured investment commitments of approximately ₹1,42,000 crore till end of Day 2 of its biennial Make in Odisha Conclave 2018.
Commitments came mostly from manufacturing and steel-making majors like Aditya Birla Group, Tata Group, SAIL, JSW, Reliance Industries and other FMCG companies like ITC.
Although union ministers were missing at the Conclave, the show was dominated by industry captains like Mukesh Ambani of Reliance, Anil Agarwal of Vedanta Resources, Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group, the Jindal brothers — Sajjan and Naveen — of JSW and JSPL, Sanjiv Puri of ITC, N Chandrasekharan of Tata Group, among others. A host of regional biggies and local start-ups also attended the event, which was inaugurated by the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday.
Manufacturing majors
Naveen Jindal’s JSPL promised to invest ₹55,000 crore in ramping up the company’s steel making capacity at Angul (Odisha) unit from the existing six million tonnes to 20 million tonnes by 2030. The company’s current investment in Odisha stands at ₹45,000 crore.
Sajjan, who is the Chairman of JSW, promised a steel plant once ore linkages were sorted out by the State government. It has already invested in a cement unit. “Odisha has the potential to be a $1-trillion economy,” he said.
Kumar Managalam Birla committed an investment of $2 billion (approximately ₹15,000 crore at current exchange) over the next two years in group outfits like Ultratech, Hindalco, Vodafone-Idea, Aditya Birla Capital and others in the State.
Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran said the group’s aggregate investments in the State will soon cross ₹100,000 crore. The group is working on ₹25,000-crore phase-II expansion of the Kalinganagar steel unit. The ground breaking ceremony of the Phase-II project happened today.
Tatas will also ramp up presence of TCS in Bhubaneswar by more than doubling the head count to 12,000.
The other big-ticket investment commitment came from public sector undertaking SAIL which committed ₹40,000 crore investment to ramp up capacity of the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) to 10 million tonnes per annum. SAIL is currently expanding RSP capacity to 4.5 million tonne.
“We will soon be the largest steel producer here,” Anil Kumar Chaudhary, CMD, SAIL said.
Other commitments
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries today made a fresh investment commitment of ₹3,000 crore in “new businesses of the company” (implying Jio) in Odisha, over the next three years. Reliance was one of the large investors with ₹6,000 crore being already put in here.
Anil Agarwal called investors to explore downstream industries, while highlighting that his Vendata Resources has kept its promise of developing the underdeveloped belt of Kalahandi through sustained investments in an aluminium refinery and community development.
“Odisha is one of the best places to explore downstream industries and we as investors should start looking into this segment too. We should be the job generators,” he added.
FMCG and food majors ITC and Britannia — who have facilities at Khurda in Odisha — promised fresh investments of ₹550 crore and ₹60 crore respectively in next 3-5 years.
Earlier in the day, ITC’s Managing Director Sanjiv Puri reiterated the company’s commitment towards ramping up of its integrated food manufacturing facility and setting up of a hotel under the Welcom brand.
The Adani Group has committed to develop a ₹500-crore airstrip for captive use at Dhamra port.
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