Bhubaneswar: The Opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Friday alleged that the Odisha Government’s series of investors’ meets in the country and abroad over the past two years have failed to translate into any significant investments on the ground, questioning the state’s actual progress in attracting investments.
The regional party launched the allegations against the backdrop of the Odisha Food Pro 2026 programme in Delhi, organised by the state government to attract investors to the food processing sector.
Officials claimed the first sector‑focused investment roadshow held outside Odisha witnessed the signing of 27 MoUs and 12 Investment Intent Forms (IIFs) with total investment proposals worth Rs 43,437 crore.
In a press statement, BJD spokesperson and media coordinator Lenin Mohanty said the state government has organised investors’ meets in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Gujarat, besides Singapore and Japan, over the past two years to attract investments to Odisha.
He said the government has made substantial investment claims following each such event, but there is no clear account of how much of the proposed investment has actually been grounded in the state.
Referring to the Utkarsh Odisha investors’ summit held in Bhubaneswar in January 2025, Mohanty said the government claimed to have received investment proposals worth Rs 16.73 lakh crore, including MoUs worth Rs 12.89 lakh crore.
Similarly, following the Hyderabad Investors’ Meet, the government had claimed to have received investment proposals worth Rs 67,000 crore, he said.
“After every investors’ conference, the government has claimed that proposals worth thousands of crores of rupees have been received. However, even after two years of the BJP Government assuming office, there is no account of how much actual investment has materialised in Odisha. It is gradually becoming evident that the government’s tall claims are merely rhetoric,” alleged Mohanty.
The BJD leader, citing Central Government data, claimed that Odisha received only Rs 39 crore in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during 2024‑25, accounting for 0.009 per cent of India’s total FDI during the year.
“While there is no information about any major investor having commenced operations in Odisha, several industries that had signed MoUs during the previous government have left the state,” alleged Mohanty.
He said the withdrawal or relocation of these projects reflected the state government’s “incompetence.”
The BJD also claimed that Odisha’s industrial growth rate had declined from 9.6 per cent in 2023‑24 to 7.9 per cent in 2024‑25. Mohanty further alleged that the state’s position in the national Startup Rankings and Export Rankings had also declined.
IANS
