OPEN FOR BUSINESS

t a time when national economic statistics paint a grim picture of upended small businesses and massive unemployment, Orissa has shone a beacon of hope, lining up firm proposals for investment of over Rs 3 lakh crore. These investments by a hundred-odd companies will create an estimated 110,000 new jobs. State industry secretary Hemant Sharma claims these figures were released only after the Naveen Patnaik government was convinced that the projects would materialise and not remain unfulfilled expressions of intent. “Investments worth Rs 3 lakh crore have been approved by the government’s single window clearance system and are at various stages of execution like land allotment, construction etc.,”