Odisha beats Gujarat in attracting factories

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has the maximum share of over 17 per cent in the total live investments worth about Rs 33 lakh crore attracted by manufacturing sector across the country, according to a study conducted by industry body Assocham.

Gujarat was ranked second (nearly 12 per cent) followed by Karnataka (11 per cent), Jharkhand (nine per cent) and Chhattisgarh (seven per cent), said the study titled “Impact analysis of delay in investment implementation in manufacturing” by Assocham.

However, about 39 per cent manufacturing projects in Odisha remained under implementation as of September 2015. Delayed projects facing cost escalation have maximum share of 31 per cent in Odisha followed by Karnataka, Rajasthan and Jharkhand (9 per cent each), the study said.

“Considering that long delays in projects’ implementation hurts investors’ sentiment, the government needs to have a strong plan to prioritise speeding up stuck projects’ effective implementation by creating a target-oriented roadmap,” said Mr D.S. Rawat, secretary general of Assocham, while releasing the findings of the chamber’s study.

Highlighting the impact of delay in implementation of projects in manufacturing sector across India, the Assocham study noted that out of 1,160 projects that are in different stages of implementation, 422 projects have reported time or cost overruns worth about Rs 9 lakh crore or 50 per cent of the actual investment.
“Even investors should be penalised if projects get delayed due to improper planning, change of ownership, lack of finance, absence of co-ordination with contractors and other related issues,” said Mr Rawat.

The manufacturing sector in the country attracted live investments worth about Rs 33 lakh crore, about one-fifth of total live investments worth over Rs 164 lakh crore drawn by various sectors across India as of September 2015, the study  said.

“Metal and metal products alone accounted for almost half (48 per cent) of the total live investments attracted by manufacturing sector in India followed by chemicals and chemical products (24 per cent), machinery (8 per cent), transport equipment (7 per cent), construction material (7 per cent), food and agro based products (3 per cent),” it said.