13.11.18

Odisha Can Become a Trillion-Dollar Economy

Captains of Indian industry who attended the “Make in Odisha” conclave felt that the state has the potential to become a trillion-dollar economy. The who’s who of Indian industry –– from Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani to Oyo Room founder Ritesh Agarwal –– were enthusiastic about their investments in Odisha.

“Odisha is one of the three states, besides Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, that can become a trillion dollar economy, like California in the US and three districts in China. We have drafted an internal vision paper that I want to share with the CM,” said Sajjan Jindal, chairman, JSW Group. Jindal, who has “a greenfield steel plant on the drawing board”, said his company is already setting up a cement plant and would soon commission new berths at the Paradip Port for cape-size ships.

Jindal’s younger brother, Naveen Jindal said JSPL intended to expand its capacity to 20 MT annually.

After a six-decade-long association with Odisha, the state remained one of his group’s top investment destinations, said Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, Aditya Birla Group.

Speaking on the occasion, Mukesh Ambani said his father Dhirubhai Ambani and Biju Patnaik were ahead of their times and inspired millions of Indians to believe that nothing is impossible. Ambani committed an investment of ₹3,000 crore to the state.

Tata group chairman N Chandrasekaran said the ₹25,000-crore expansion of their Kalinganagar plant would cross ₹1,00,000 crore.

Vedanta Resources’ Anil Agarwal announced the beginning of the ₹15,000-crore expansion work (from 1 mt to 4 mt of alumina) at the event.

Also present were ITC’s MD Sanjiv Puri and, SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar.

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