The Odisha government is formulating a special incentive package for mega investments in the Textiles and Apparel sector to attract major national and global players.

It is a top priority of the government in terms of making Odisha the manufacturing hub of the East, said Industry Minister Dibya Shankar Mishra at a national-level seminar on Making Odisha the Textiles Hub of the East organized by IPICOL here yesterday.

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Hemant Sharma, Principal Secretary, Industries, highlighted the recent growth of the state primarily driven by the push towards industrial growth.

He elaborated on the strong driving factors of Odisha making it the manufacturing hub of the East such as the strategic location of Odisha in the ASEAN region, the industrial infrastructure, highly skilled manpower and the proactive governance.

Minister Mishra said “We have more than 1.5 lac acres of land, ready to be used by the industries . Odisha has had along history in textile and global trading”, he said.

He appealed to industry leaders across India to come, visit and invest in Odisha. Upendra Prasad Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India elaborated the new schemes of the Central Government and pointed out the areas where India based industries can focus on to have a growth in this sector.

Leading national and global players like Shahi Exports, Aditya Birla Fashion, Page Industries and Wild Lotus participated in the seminar and shared their experience in the state. Some of them promised to consider Odisha for their future expansion plans as well as Greenfield projects.

They lauded the hassle free delivery of incentives and the conducive business environment in the state.

Domain leaders including Bhilosha Industries, Vardhman textiles, Dixcy textiles, Indorama industries and Shubhalakshmi polyesters were also present.

Debasis Sen, Director, Planning and Business Development, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL), Dhananjaya Srivastava, Executive Director (Petrochemicals), IOCL and Ms Shubha Sarma, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Handlooms, Textiles & Handicrafts Department, Government of Odisha also spoke. Bhupendra Singh Poonia, MD, IPICOL also addressed the seminar.