Bhubaneswar: Odisha has been ranked an "Aspiring Leader" in a survey of 21 states conducted by Invest India and World Bank, an official said on Monday.
Odisha scored 80 per cent marks overall as against a national average of 70 per cent and was placed in the "Aspiring Leaders" category along with four other states.
The state scored highly across all key parameters ranging from targeting investors (100 per cent), facilitating investment (100 per cent), mandate and organisation (94 per cent), strategy and marketing (83 per cent), winning investment projects (83 per cent), systems and technology (73 per cent) and research and policy advocacy (70 per cent).
"... with increased competitive intensity to attract investments among Indian states, it is imperative for states like ours to become more proactive and sophisticated in its activities. We will not rest on our laurels and strive to further improve the state's investment promotion preparedness," said Industries Secretary Sanjeev Chopra.
He said that over the past few years, many initiatives have been taken by Odisha to enhance investment promotion preparedness.
These include institutionalising state-level facilitation cell, appointment of sector-specific nodal officers to handhold investors, identification of six focus sectors, regular domestic and international investor outreach through roadshows, and focused approach to facilitating investments through technology-enabled interventions.
"We have seen a significant rise in attracting manufacturing projects with approval to more than 118 large projects that hold the potential of 1,28,572 jobs in the past four years," said Chopra.
The average time taken for project approval has reduced to 20 days from the date of receipt of completed project application, he added.
Odisha has made strides in implementing ease-of-doing-business reforms, with compliance percentage going up significantly from 52.12 in 2015 to 97.83 in 2017.
Pic Credit: The Free Press Journal