The proposed Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) in Odisha is projected to draw investment worth Rs 979 crore including expenditure by individual units on plant, machinery and park infrastructure.
The cost of developing the cluster at the proposed Info-Valley on the outskirt of the city, which recently received the in-principle approval from the Centre under the Electronic Manufacturing Clusters Scheme of Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), is pegged at Rs 209.64 crores.
A grant of Rs 96.96 crore has been approved by DeitY for the cluster planned to come up over 215.76 acres of land.
The EMC cluster will be located at Info-Valley for which land has been acquired in Harapur, Gaudakasipur and Durgapur villages of Khurda district. It is expected to house over 100 electronics manufacturing units. "The project has an employment potential of 10,000 - 12,000, which will be a mix of skilled and semi-skilled personnel," said India Electronics and Semi-Conductor Association (IESA), the premier trade body representing the Indian Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) industry.
IESA is assisting the state government in setting up the first green field cluster in the state. It has engaged Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (ILF&S) for preparation of the detailed project report (DPR) for the EMC Park. Under the scheme, the assistance will be provided to a special purpose vehicle (SPV), which will be a legal entity duly registered for this purpose. The SPV may be promoted by private companies, industry associations, financial institutions, research & development institutions, state or local governments or their agencies and units within the EMC. The financial assistance to the SPV will come in the form of grant-in-aid only. For greenfield EMCs, the assistance will be restricted to 50 per cent of the project cost, subject to a ceiling of Rs 50 crore for every 100 acres of land and for the brownfield EMCs, the assistance will be restricted to 75 per cent of the project cost subject to a ceiling of Rs 50 crore.
At present, state run Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) and Odisha Computer Application Centre are promoting the cluster. Sources said, Idco is actively considering forming a SPV with (Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC) and with an industry association as required under the scheme.
"The sector holds tremendous potential as per the strategic roadmap for the ESDM sector submitted by IESA. The state government is committed towards the development of the sector in the state and both Idco and OCAC are lending admirable support for the project, "said Vishal Dev, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Idco. The state government is providing attractive incentives for the ESDM sector under the recently announced state ICT policy-2014.
