Odisha third top investment destination: Assocham

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha is the third most preferred investment destination in the country after Maharashtra and Gujarat, industry body Assocham said today.

The state has registered positive growth both in manufacturing and services sectors, contrary to the economic slowdown in India and globally, Assocham's Secretary General D S Rawat told reporters here while releasing a study by the industry body.

"With a share of over seven per cent, Odisha has attracted outstanding investments worth about Rs 12 lakh crore out of the total investments worth over Rs 158 lakh crore attracted by various sectors from both public and private sources in top 21 states across India as on March 31, 2015," he said, quoting the study titled 'Realising economic potential of Odisha: A comparative investment analysis'.

Maharashtra and Gujarat remained ahead of Odisha with a share of 9.7 per cent and 9.5 per cent respectively, he said.

It added that despite environmental issues, Odisha ranks as the fastest growing state in attracting tourists by registering about 133 per cent jump in the last ten years.

Rawat said the study highlighted that focus on key sectors like healthcare, education, tourism, IT, mining and minerals, infrastructure, MSME, food processing, handloom, petrochemicals and bio-pharma would transform Odisha's economy.

"Odisha...has significant potential to emerge as the most lucrative state for domestic and global investors, trade and industry, provided it undertakes further initiatives to facilitate ease of doing business," Rawat said.

He said Assocham was preparing a 'Blueprint for promoting ease of doing business in Odisha', which would be submitted to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik within two months.