NLC India announces Rs 25,000 crore investment in Odisha

Chennai-based NLC India Ltd (formerly Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd), a navratna public sector undertaking (PSU), on Thursday unveiled its investment plans for Odisha. 

At the two-day Odisha Investors' meet held in Bangalore, the PSU announced that it will invest around Rs 25,000 crore on a thermal power plant, solar power plant and a coal mining processing plant.

The company intends to set up a 2,000 Mw thermal power plant and a 500 Mw solar power plant with investment of Rs 15,000 crore and Rs 3,000 crore, respectively. Similarly, the coal mining processing plant is likely see an investment of Rs 7,500 crore.

The announcement was made by Sarat Kumar Acharya, chairman and managing director of NLC India.

The summit, the biggest staged by Odisha since the roadshow organised during 'Make in India' event in Mumbai in February this year, also saw investment commitments from other players.

BEL (Bharat Electronics Ltd) is keen to invest Rs 2,000 crore  in solar plant.

In a boost to the seafood sector, Poseidon Aquatech has announced plans for investing Rs 100 crore to undertake shrimp farming and processing in the state. Noodles manufacturer Indo Nissin Foods Ltd has intended to invest additional Rs 50 crore to expand the existing facility by next year.

HP Future Cities is keen to provide technology services in various sectors of the state and Wipro GE Healthcare has proposed for multiple projects.

In an attempt to encourage investments in sectors like Manufacturing, IT, electronics, petrochemicals, food processing, and tourism, the Odisha government is organising a two-day investors’ meet in Bangalore.

Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik is scheduled to attend the meet on Friday. The state government is expected to unveil its start-up Policy-2016 which aims to create 1,000 start-ups in the next five years and master plan for Info Valley, a dedicated IT hub located at the outskirts of the city. 

The new policy , which has recently got the cabinet nod, envisages to position Odisha among the top three start-up hubs in the country by 2020 through strategic partnerships, conducive ecosystem, investments and policy intervention.

About 250 companies are likely to hold discussions with the state government for investment in the state.