Odisha to set aside legacy of failed mega projects, tap emerging sectors

Two of the biggest investments in Odisha - mega steel mills proposed by Posco and ArcelorMittal, which together had committed Rs1 lakh crore in the state, did not take off. But, the state is gearing up to overcome the baggage of these failed big-ticket projects and script a new investment story propelled by human resource rather than natural resource.

Experts reached a consensus on moving beyond the failed showpiece investments at the Business Standard Round Table-2016 recently.

“The time has come to look forward. We have to look at a variety of sectors - opportunities thrown up by food processing, especially marine processing and apparel manufacturing, rather than looking back at the opportunities lost. In our state, we hardly do any value addition whereas a country like Vietnam takes marine products from us, adds value and exports to countries like Japan and Korea at 10 times the valuation. Also, we can tap apparel manufacturing since a lot of Odia workers are engaged in this sector in Bengaluru and Tirupur. They would like to come back if we can create the opportunities,” said Odisha chief secretary Aditya Padhi at the inaugural session titled ‘Attracting Investments: Challenges and Opportunities’.

BS