Odisha to focus more on downstream industries

Finance Minister of Odisha, Sashi Bhusan Behera told that, Odisha will focus more on downstream and value added industry. After putting temporary full stop on heavy and bid industry, state plans to nurture the downstream sector which has huge potential for employment generation. He said this while inaugurating the Odisha MSME Meet-2018 at IDCOL Auditorium organized bu Odisha Assembly of Small and Medium Enterprises (OASME) as chief guest. He said that, “We temporarily put full stop on big and heavy industries. Our focus is now on downstream sector. We also were working to enhance our ease of doing business ranking. We are taking various steps to help entrepreneurs and make the business environment more conducive for them.”

Prafulla Kumar Samal, Minister, MSME, Odisha said that, “Number of MSME in Odisha as of March 2018 is 13.20 lakh. Government through skill development programmes provided skill training to more than 29045 youth of the state. There are 1008 downstream industries in Odisha who are increasing steel, aluminum, waste paper and slag. These industries have been given employment to 7786 people. Similarly, 786 fly ash based industries provided employment to 12,044 people.” He also said that, “Industrial environment situation is very good in the industries. Through District Level Single Window Clearance Authority 544 project approved between 2014 April to 2018 March which brings Rs 2040 crore investment intend for the state. If those entire projects get implemented in time then 21,730 employment opportunities will go to be generated. Out of the total proposed project 67 industries started production and 119 projects are under different stage of implementation.”