Sunday, March 09, 2014: In tune to bring foreign investments to the country, and further market one of the poorest states of India, Odisha has taken some pro-active steps to power the state. A four-member delegation led by state IT (information technology) secretary, Sanjeeb Kumar Mishra will go on a five-day visit to Germany from 10 March. The trip aims to attract investors in the IT and associate sectors.
Aiming to solicit investment avenues in IT, ITes (enabled services) and Electronic System Designing and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector, the team further constitutes Industry secretary and chairman-cum-managing director, Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation’s (Idco) Vishal Dev. The other two members are officials from the IT department and Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC). The officials will attend the CeBIT, which is the world’s largest ‘Business IT Event’ from 10 to 14 March, at Hannover in Germany.
According to a Business Standard report, Manas Ranjan Panda, the director of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Bhubaneswar is likely to accompany the team. It is to be noted that an electronics manufacturing cluster (EMC) is in development at the Info-valley, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. It is likely to house many ESDM companies. Idco has submitted the detailed project report (DPR) to the Centre seeking assistance for this cluster under the central government’s EMCs scheme.
This sector is estimated to generate a cumulative revenue of Rs 188 billion revenue in the state of Odisha by 2024, as per the estimates from India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA). An investment of Rs 734 billion needs to be put into the sector in three phases, to achieve the projected revenue. It is also expected to generate about 60,000 jobs in the next 10 years. Nearly, 15,000 people will be benefited in the state as the government of India aims to train 90,000 people, in selected six states or the Union Territories, in coming four years.
