NALCO to step up local procurement in Odisha

KOLKATA: National Aluminium Company (NALCO), the country's largest state run aluminium producer is drawing up a focussed policy to step up its share of procurement from local businesses in its home state of Odisha.

"We are already procuring goods and services worth Rs 400 crore from MSMEs every year. Now, we are coming up with a focused policy to procure more from Odisha-based MSMEs, T K Chand, CMD, NALCO has said.

"As an industry leader, if we want to chart a course of success, we have to take the ancillary industries along with us," Chand said while speaking on the sidelines of CII's Enterprise Odisha at IDCO Exhibition Ground on Tuesday.

Citing the example of US-economy, Chand pointed out that in the US, the main yardstick of evaluating economy is employment generation. "We can generate more employment primarily by striking a synergy with both upstream and downstream industries, he said. In the wake of Odisha government's new Industrial Policy and CII's role to attract more investors to the sate, Chand said that investment is a business response to the available business environment. One of the prime reasons of China's success is the availability of infrastructure in place before setting up an industry. He also drew attention towards the critical need for doubling of railway tracks and electrification in south western parts of Odisha, adding that its implementation would spur investment in the state in a big way.