A delegation of prospective investors from US is likely to visit Orissa in phases from October to December this year to assess the state's investment climate so as to give a concrete shape to their proposed investment plans across sectors.
"The US investors have evinced interest in the state in various sectors. They have assured us to visit Orissa in the October-December period this year", the state revenue and disaster management minister, S N Patra told Business Standard here today.
The US investors, mainly the Indian diaspora, were keen to invest in sectors like information technology, green energy, education and hospitality. Investments to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) are likely to flow to Orissa from US.
A high-level delegation of the Orissa government inlcuding Patra, Debi Prasad Mishra, the minister for tourism, culture and higher education; IT minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi; Bhubaneswar MLA Ashok Panda and some high-level officials of the state government were on a recent visit to US and Canada.
The delegation had participated at the Invest Bhubaneswar symposium held at California from July 7-9.
"We also had discussions with the chairman of the National Knowledge Commission Sam Pitroda, to make Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Orissa as the knowledge hub of eastern India. The state government will prepare a detail project report for this purpose and soon submit to KNC", he said.
The discussion with the KNC was made when the US-based CTC Education Private Limited evinced interest for developing a 1000-acre Knowledge City at Bhubaneswar with an investment of around Rs 6,000 crore in the next five years.
The California-based Silicon Valley Group, Best Western Hotel Groups, Sonic Chips have also shown interest to invest in Orissa.
"The private investors were very satisfied when we presented the state's potential and Naveen Patnaik government's investment friendly policy for the investors", the minister claimed.
Apart from the private firms, the University of Chicago has also assured to open a satellite campus in Bhubaneswar.
