Naveen Patnaik is known for keeping his political cards close to his chest and has put Odisha's interest ahead of his personal ambitions. The chief minister's efforts to transform the economy of Odisha — from among the poorest to a middle-income state — in his tenure of over 22 years have been characterised by talking less and doing more.
The fact that the silent and low-key efforts are drawing the attention of India Inc to Odisha became clear on Tuesday, a day before the inauguration of the state's biennial investor summit.
The Naveen Patnaik government announced on Tuesday that the third edition of Make in Odisha Conclave would have participants like L.N. Mittal, executive chairman, ArcelorMittal; Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, Aditya Birla Group; Anil Agarwal, chairman, Vedanta Resources Ltd; Sajjan Jindal of JSW Group; and T.V. Narendran, CEO and MD, Tata Steel.
The four-day event, the Odisha government believes, will accelerate the growth of the economy, growing at an average annual rate of 7.1 per cent over the past two decades and address the problem of inequality in the state that has failed in ensuring the distribution of benefits of growth to the poorest people living in its northern and southern parts.
The Telegraph takes a close look at why the investor meet is drawing all the attention.
Availability of land
The Odisha government — which had faced massive land acquisition-related problems between 2004 and 2008 for murky projects of Posco and Tata Steel — now claims that it has over 1,25,000 acres of industry-ready land. The government has acquired the land from people by creating awareness among landowners of the potential benefits of large-scale industrialisation.
"We took lessons from our experience and worked hard to create awareness and come up with pro-people resettlement and rehabilitation policy.... At places like Paradwip and Kalinganagr, which witnessed land acquisition-related protests, people are willing to part with their land," said Hemant Sharma, the principal secretary of the Odisha industries department.
According to him, instead of the industries identifying plots to set up plants, the government has been proactively acquiring land parcels with the full consent of the owners and developing them to create a land bank for potential investors.
At a time when land acquisition for industries has become a major challenge for several Indian states, the ready land bank in Odisha has become one of the key reasons for investors' interest in the coastal state.
While the government narrative revolves around the voluntary offering of land for industries, there are also reports of forced land acquisition in areas dominated by adivasis.
Focus on business
The Odisha government, unlike several other states, has not invited any central minister to the conclave.
"This is an Odisha government show and we want to keep it like that," said Pratap Keshari Dev, the industries minister, before stressing that the state government had got the necessary help from New Delhi for the conclave.
Although Patnaik's party, Biju Janata Dal, is not a constituent of the NDA at the Centre, it has always tried to maintain a "cordial and responsible" relationship with New Delhi, said a source.
The approach marks a difference as some state governments use the clout in the national capital to get central ministers to business summits so that public sector unit chiefs turn up at the show and announce some projects that add to the quantum of investment proposals received at the meet.
"Our focus is on getting the industry big shots and we don't want to dilute that by getting central ministers," he added, making it clear that the state government wanted to play the role of the facilitator so that the private sector came forward and put in its money.
Stress on planning
Since 2016, when the first summit was held, the Odisha government had decided to hold it after a gap of two years for two reasons — first to ensure the "grounding" of the investment proposals received and then planning properly for the next edition of the show.
According to Sharma, the rate of implementation of the proposals received at the earlier summits — Rs 1.51 lakh crore in 2016 and 4.19 lakh crore in 2018 — has been around 62 per cent.
"We have been prudent in our fiscal management and that's why we never defaulted on paying incentives... Our promises have always been modest, but we always delivered and that's how we earned the confidence of the investors," he said.
"We are not trying to get everything... There are other states that may have certain advantages and that's why our approach has been focused," said Sharma.
Not just faster clearances, the Odisha government, he said, has maintained all its commitments on the disbursal of the incentives promised to the investors.
Brand Naveen
Industries minister Dev said the political stability in Odisha — Patnaik has been the chief minister since 2000 — had been one of the main reasons behind the state's attractiveness as a business destination.
The growth story, some detractors think, is primarily because of Odisha's unique advantage of being a mineral-rich state that has a long coastline.
Sources in the government said that the chief minister took special interest in this edition as he wants to expand the base of the industry by focusing on new areas like food processing, IT and textiles and apparels. The micro, small and medium enterprises is also a focus this time in view of the political imperative of creating jobs.
Patnaik visited Dubai for a road show and several Indian cities to meet potential investors.
The chief minister is also likely to be present on all the four days at the summit venue during the conclave and interact with the who's who of India Inc.