Naveen Patnaik meets Arun Jaitley, invites him to Make in Odisha conclave

New Delhi, Oct 11 In a bid to make Odisha a manufacturing hub of the East, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley here and invited him to the 'Make in Odisha' conclave to be held in Bhubaneswar for attracting entrepreneurs to invest in the state.

Patnaik invited Jaitley to attend the plenary session of the investors meet on December 1 as the Guest of Honour.

Odisha's new industrial development plan 'Vision 2025' projects an additional investment of Rs 2.5 lakh crore and generate 10 lakh jobs by 2025.

During the meeting with Jaitley, the Chief Minister said that the new Industrial Policy Resolution 2015 adopted by Odisha is aimed at making Odisha a manufacturing hub of the East and providing an enabling environment to the entrepreneurs to invest and set up businesses in the state.

Patnaik also brought to the notice of the Finance Minister certain issues pending with the Centre including release of compensation for phasing out CST for the year 2012-13 and onwards and revision of royalty on coal which was due for revision in April, 2015, a release said.

He appealed to the Finance Minister to amend Article 276(2) of the Constitution to enhance upper ceiling of the Professional Tax to Rs 12,000 per annum as recommended by the 14th Finance Commission and impress upon the Ministry of Coal to release Rs 566 crore payable by HINDALCO to Odisha on account of Coal Block Talabira-I.

Patnaik also highlighted that Mahanadi Coal Limited which extracts coal from Odisha is the largest contributor to the Clean Energy Cess on coal being collected by the Centre at the rate of Rs 400 per tonne and stated that there are compelling reasons for compensating the coal bearing states like Odisha suffering the brunt of negative externalities of coal mining and coal-based power plants from out of Clean Energy Cess Fund.

Jaitley assured to look into the issues early and indicated his willingness to attend the Plenary Session of Make in Odisha Conclave, the statement said.

'Make in Odisha' conclave scheduled to be held in Bhubaneswar during November 30 – December 2 is aimed at attracting large investments in manufacturing from domestic investors and major investors across the globe.

PTI