Odisha’s Seafood Park rolls out red carpet for processors, exporters 

The Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (IPICOL) has set up a first-of-its-kind specialised Seafood Park at Deras in Bhubaneswar for processing marine products and exports, its Managing Director Bhupendra Singh Poonia has said. 

As Odisha has huge potential in freshwater fisheries, IPICOL plans to set up a similar park in the western part of the State. “Wherever the industry demands, we provide all kinds of facilities today. One more park is in the pipeline,” Poonia told businessline in an online interaction.

The seafood park at Deras, set up to take advantage of the 480 km coastline of the State, is strategically located to leverage abundant marine resources and proximity to major ports for “efficient” import of raw materials and export of finished seafood products, he said. 

Developing the sector

The park will provide state-of-the-art infrastructure, technology and support services to processors, exporters and other related industries. Pointing out that marine products are one of the top foreign exchange-earning sectors in the country, Poonia said the park provides employment, mainly to women. “The State government with the help of the Centre is trying to develop the seafood sector further to earn more foreign exchange. It can help provide more employment and improve farmers’ income,” he said.  

Three units have already been set up in the park, launched in 2021, while four are under construction. Another 7 are in different stages of getting approval, the IPICOL managing director said. 

The park is situated on an area of 90 acres and 14 companies have taken around 50 acres of land. Depending on an investor’s requirement, another 20 companies can be set up inside the park’s premises.

Shipping arrangement

The Odisha government has an arrangement with the nearby Paradip port for container cargo facilities. Exporters faced problems earlier due to the lack of such facilities. The State government provides viability gap funding (VGF) to help exports from the park stabilise. 

The exports take place within three hours as the port is nearer to the park. It saves cost too. “Otherwise, they have to travel longer distances which takes time,” Poonia said, adding that the State is providing VGF as every liner has to be guaranteed a minimum volume to anchor at the port. 

At the park, the Odisha government provides common facilities, including hostels for workers. “The seafood sector is labour-intensive. So we have to provide such facilities (hostel), mainly women for their safety, convenience and well-being. We have already constructed one hostel but we are adding more space so that they can be nearer to their workplace,” he said. 

Sops for investors

Apart from these, IPICOL also provides good incentives, as the sector is treated as a priority area as per Odisha’s industrial policy.  “As it is treated as a priority sector, we provide a 20 per cent subsidy for capital investment. Apart from that, we have all common facilities such as effluent treatment, cold storage, block ice, polythene units and packaging units,” Poonia said.

Odisha provides such incentives to investors functioning in different coastal areas of the State too. “We support, facilitate and provide the same kind of incentives wherever they feel that are comfortable or it will be more profitable for them,” he said. 

One of the features of the park is, by default, over 90 per cent of the workforce is women. The State government reimburses Employee State Insurance and Employee Provide Fund for five years if they employ the local people.

Skills development

The eastern State has been investing heavily in skilling as the emphasis is on training a workforce that can be readily employed by future or existing investors. Apart from this, if any special skill is required by the industry, the manpower is trained at the State’s cost.

For skill development, IPICOL has an institutional arrangement with the State’s Department for Skill Development and Technical Education. It also has the World Skills Centre, which is run with the help of the Industrial Technical Institute of Singapore to design modules and provide training.  Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology also provides specialised training.  

IPICOL acts a single window clearance for investors. When an investor applies, the corporation helps them get all kinds of approval. At the seafood park, it has already taken many approvals. Hence, it would be “plug and play” for new investors. 

‘After-care’

“At IPICOL, it’s not only that we invite investors and take applications. But from end-to-end, even after commissioning, we are there to help them if there are any problems. We call it after-care,” the corporation’s managing director said. 

If any investor faces problems after setting up a unit, IPICOL intervenes on behalf of the investor or the industry to get speedy clearance. “It is part of ease of doing business,” he said.

Though the park has not been declared a special economic zone (SEZ), IPICOL will declare an area as SEZ if it is profitable for the investor.

Poonia said the Odisha government is committed to promote the seafood sector. It is ready to provide all kinds of support incentives and “end-to-end” handholding wherever investors face problems. “If something has to be changed for the betterment of the farmers, the investors or exporters, we are ready to help them,” said Poonia.