Private Investment Inflow Hit 6-Year High In The Covid-19 Year In Odisha!

Bhubaneswar: The Covid-19 pandemic seems to have emerged as the deciding factor as far as the private investment inflow to states in the country is concerned. As of now, western states seems to have emerged as the big losers. Karnataka and Odisha have emerged as the big gainers in the inflow of private investments.

The top two investment destinations in the country for over the years - Gujarat and Maharashtra - saw a tumble down in the inflow of private investments to the tune of 50-60 per cent this year so far. Coincidentally, both the states have been acutely hit by covid-19 pandemic.

While addressing at the annual session of country's leading business association FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) on Saturday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik claimed that Odisha attracted around Rs 1 lakh crore private investment in the pandemic year.

Is This A Hype Or Reality?

A detailed glance at the number of Industrial Entrepreneurial Memorandums (IEMs) filed this year revealed that Odisha has recorded an investment commitment to the tune of R 37,136 crore till the end of October this year.

An analysis of the data available with both the Odisha and Central government, however, makes a big revelation.

With the pandemic in Odisha now seemingly under control, CM Naveen Patnaik's claim of receiving Rs 1 lakh crore investment this pandemic year is being seen by observers here as the CM's slog over batting to score more investments for the State.

How Pandemic Year Proves Proverbial For Odisha?

Notwithstanding the slowdown in inflow since July, the big bang fact here is the amount of the investment commitments that has come Odisha's way in this pandemic year (Jan-Oct) has, incidentally, been the highest ever inflow since the year 2014, means after a gap of over half-a-decade.

Sample this.

• Year 2014: the total IEMs filed in Odisha totalled to Rs 28,000 crore.
• Year 2016: investment money trickled down to Rs 22,507 crore.
• Year 2017: Despite organising for the first time Gujarat type business conclave with the tag line of "Make In Odisha' in 2016, investment inflow dipped to Rs 6,971 crore.
• Year 2018: Private investment inflow commitment amounted to Rs 15,917cr.
• Year 2019: private investments picked up pace to touch Rs 29,826 cr, and Odisha figured among the high-5 table led by Gujarat, courtesy the 2nd edition of Make in Odisha held in 2018.

"It seems pandemic is main reason behind slowdown in investment inflow to Maharashtra and Gujarat. As Odisha has a better control over Covid-19, this could be the reason behind a surge in investment inflow to State," reasoned UCCI President Ramesh Mahapatra.

He further observed that as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka are advanced states, they have a state of art infrastructure. Besides, more investor friendly than Odisha.

"The single window system implemented by Odisha is still not accessible to all investors. The record of poor implementation over the years have been the reason behind dip in private investment inflow since 2014," he explained.

Snail Show In Implementation?

A look at the data showed Odisha had a poor rate of implementation till 2017. The rate of actual implementation was 13 per cent in the year up from mere 3 per cent in 2016.

However, the rate improved to 24 per cent in 2018. And the rate of implementation was over 100 per cent in 2019 and 77 per cent in 2020 so far.

The note here is over 100 per cent implementation rate in 2019 was attributed to commencing of previous years projects that have been languishing for over the years.

Who Invested In Odisha?

As per the State industry department data available, during the period January - June, the State saw good inflow of investments in the sectors like - metallurgical, cement and chemicals (other than fertilisers), food processing, marine, hospitality industries etc.

The State had seen the most of investments in the month of January 2020. The first case of Covid-19 in India was detected on January 29. The investment ranged from metallurgical to wood and pulp, food processing, beverages and hotels. February also saw investments coming in chemical, plastic, aquaculture products etc.