Discussion on Development of Ancillary Industries

Aug 29, 2018

A panel discussion on Development of Downstream & Ancillary Industries in Odisha was organized by World Trade Centre Bhubaneswar in association with Business Standard Smart Business, a leading business daily of India. 

Moderator Mr. Dillip Satapathy, Resident Editor, Business Standard led the discussion along with respective corporate and MSME representatives namely Mr. Arun Misra, Vice President, TATA Steel Special Economic Zone Ltd., Mr. Ardhendhu Mohapatra, Joint President, Hindalco Industries Ltd., Mr. Satwik Swain, Secretary General (Honorary), Odisha Assembly of Small & Medium Enterprises & Managing Director, M/s Eastern Engineering Ltd. and Dr. Kamalesh Mishra, Regional President, Sea Food Exporters Association of India. 

Mr. Satapathy initiated the discussions by sharing his views on the existing scenario of the downstream industries in the state. Emphasizing on the existing potentials of the state he deliberated on the urgent need to accelerate the growth of ancillary and downstream industries. “Odisha is the largest Aluminium producing State in the country with 54% of the aluminium smelting capacity. It is also the largest Stainless steel producer of the country and has 20% of the Steel making capacity of India.” he said. 

Mr. Arun Misra shared his views on several policies of TATA steel on development of downstream industries. Deliberating on the change in the pattern of industrial economy he emphasized on a much needed change in outlook of the society as a whole. “Downstream industries can flourish only on new ideas” he said. Only new and innovative ideas are salable in today’s market. 

Mr. Ardhendhu Mohapatra in his deliberations made a presentation of a model project developed by Hindalco Industries Pvt. Ltd. in Odisha for the development of Ancillary Industries. He also took the opportunity to invite the MSMEs to explore the engagement in Hindalco’s project.

Dr. Mishra advocated the need for development of large units such as Automobile industry which have more scope for ancillary units. Critically analysing the scenario he said that the existing large industries are only taking away the natural resources which are non-renewable in nature. He further emphasized that the existing large players should work on value addition aspects of production. As an expert in marketing he further added the need for a constructive change in the attitude of the young entrepreneurs in order to have a competitive edge. 

Mr. Swain as a young entrepreneur explained about various bottlenecks faced by the MSMEs. He also urged that the large industries should for an initial period of establishment help the new entrepreneurs with buy back of value added products to be further marketed under the brand of the large industries. 

Ms. Nimeshika Natarajan, Assistant Director, World Trade Centre Bhubaneswar opined that with all the available resources, Odisha has huge potential for ancillary and downstream industries in the metal sector. “The Government has also been pro-active and pushing the envelope to come up with an array of Investment regions and Industrial Parks but still we can visibly observe that the Downstream and Ancillary setups are struggling to pick up in a remarkable manner as they ideally should which needs to addressed for effective industrial development of the State” she said.

In photo (L-R): Ms. Nimeshika Natarajan, Dr.Kamalesh Mishra, Mr. Ardhendhu Mohapatra, Mr. Arun Misra, Mr. Dillip Satapathy, Mr. Satwik Swain