Bhubaneswar: Of the 92 proposed industries for which the Odisha government has signed MoUs so far, only 46 have become fully or partially operational.

Odisha's industries minister Ananta Das said the state had signed MoUs with 92 companies for establishment of industries with a proposed investment of Rs 5.68 lakh crore. The projects were expected to create employment opportunities for 1.71 lakh persons.

Prominent among the companies that had signed MoUs with the state government were Arcelor Mittal India Ltd, Posco India Private Limited, Tata Steels Limited, Vedanta Aluminium Limited, Aditya Aluminium, Bhusan Power and Steel Limited, Bhusan Steel Limited, Essar Steel Limited, Jindal Steel and Power Limited, Sterlite Industries Limited, Tata Power Company Limited, Visa Power Limited and CESC Limited.

The proposed industries to be set up are related to steel, aluminium, power and other sectors. ArcelorMittal and Posco have backed out from their steel plant projects due to land acquisition problems and other issues such as change in captive mines grant policy.

So far, 46 proposed industries set up with an investment of Rs 2.54 lakh crore have started full or partial production, said Das. Prominent among those are steel plants of Tata Steel, Bhusan Steel, Essar Steel and Jindal Steel, thermal power plants of GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd, Sesa Sterlite Limited and aluminium plants of Vedanta and Aditya Aluminium.

A team had reviewed the physical progress of 29 steel plant projects between April 10 and April 16, 2013 but it had not conducted any review of any firm's investment. The team had representatives from Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation, Odisha State Pollution Control Board, department of water resources among other officials.