Naveen Patnaik meets industrialists in Mumbai, invites them to Odisha business conclave

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has met several industrialists and bankers during his visit to Mumbai, ahead of the curtain raiser event for the third edition of a business conclave.

Patnaik on Wednesday urged the industry captains to invest in Odisha and appealed to bankers to extend their support for the financial growth of the state.

On the second day of his visit to the western metropolis ahead of the 'Make in Odisha Conclave', he had one-to-one interactions with Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra, WAAREE Group's Hitesh Chimanlal Doshi, Apar Industries chairman Chaitanya Desai, JM Baxi Group managing director Dhurv Kotak and STT GDC India CFO Bimal Khandelwal.

The Chief Minister also met HDFC Bank country head Arvind Vohra, ICICI Bank's Rakesh Jha and SBI chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara.

Tagging pictures of all the industry leaders he met during the day, Patnaik took to Twitter to invite them to the Make in Odisha Conclave, scheduled to be held from November 30 to December 4.

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He discussed with the bankers on growth opportunities in the sector and urged them to expand their services in the unbanked areas of the state.

On his part, Anand Mahindra in a tweet said, "There is only one way to describe CM @Naveen_Odisha— A Class Act. Cerebral, calm, confident, he’s a man of few words who lets his actions do the talking. One of his greatest legacies will be a model for mitigating natural disasters that are being emulated around the world…"

Later in the evening, Patnaik addressed an investors' meeting attended by around 300 delegates from different industries from across the country.

He invited the investors to participate in the state government’s flagship business conclave.

"Odisha is one of the fastest growing economies in India and has consistently grown above the national average in the last decade and a half. We are fast emerging as a major industrial destination in eastern India because of our natural resource advantage and strategic location," a statement quoted the CM as saying.

Over the last 20 years, the government has focused on leveraging these natural advantages through progressive policy, efficient administration, and technological interventions, Patnaik said.

Speaking on industrialisation in Odisha, Chief Secretary S C Mohapatra said, "Today, Odisha is the largest producer of steel, stainless steel, and aluminium in India. We are emerging as a leader in sectors like chemicals and petrochemicals, textiles and apparel, IT and ITeS, food processing and others. We are also attracting investments in new age sectors such as green hydrogen and green ammonia, data centres, electric vehicle and its component manufacturing to name a few."

Sources said Patnaik is also scheduled to have one-on-one interactions with Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, Vedanta Resources chairman Anil Agarwal, Larsen and Toubro country director DK Sen, Nilkamal Ltd managing director Hiten V Parekh, Supreme Industries chairman MP Taparia, BSE chairman SS Mundra and NSE chief executive officer Ashish Chauhan.