Convener of InvestBhubaneswar Dhanada Mishra (second from left) along with former Chief secretary Sahadev Sahu (left) and C.J. Venugopal (second from right) speaking to reporters in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 20: Undeterred by the recent setback to the industrialisation process in the state, InvestBhubaneswar, a government-sponsored organisation, is planning to organise a three-day Odisha symposium here next month to woo investors.

InvestBhubaneswar, The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), US Indian Business Council and Non-Resident Oriya Facilitation Centre (NROFC) will organise a three-day symposium from December 18 to assist investment in Orissa.

As part of their effort, the symposium will witness the participation of leading lights of the industry including Subroto Bagchi, co-founder of Mindtree, Prakash Bhalerao, Venktesh Shukla and Chandra Reddy.

“Our aim is to attract small and medium scale investment to Bhubaneswar, particularly in the IT and IT-enabled sector, education, health and service sector,” said Sahadev Sahu, co-founder of InvestBhubaneswar and convenor of Non-Resident Oriya Facilitation Centre.

“Doubts are being raised after a number of mega projects, including those of Vedanta and Posco, have failed to take off.

“We want to build an investment-friendly climate in the state,” said Sahu, a former chief secretary.

Nearly 60 foreign delegates from USA, Japan and Taiwan are coming to the state to explore business opportunities, he said.

Several venture capitalist and representatives of the Japan External Trade Organisation would take part in the symposium.

The symposium will facilitate state and local entrepreneurship and also showcase Orissa’ business potential and to brand Orissa as a investor friendly state, said C.J. Venugopal, chairman-cum-managing director of the state-owned Industrial Investment Corporation of Orissa.

The symposium was the outcome of a InvestBhubaneswar initiative. In July, a delegation of the state-backed organisation went to the US in July to woo foreign investors and the seminar was a follow-up effect of the trip, he said.

However, Venugopal admitted that the recent recession had affected the prospect of IT industries in Bhubaneswar.

“Bhubaneswar cannot be insulated from other parts of the world. There are signs of recovery and Orissa is poised to take benefit out of it,” he added.

Investment opportunity will also be explored to attract investment in the field of tourism, energy, clean technology, mines and minerals, Dhanada Kumar Mishra, convenor of Invest Bhubaneswar, said.