CII Study on prospects for Retail Sector in Odisha

Retail sector has not witnessed its characteristic boom in Orissa. Barring probably Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, organised retail has so far remained untapped. A latest CII study says things would see a big change. Metro Cash and Carry, rural procurement centres on the lines of eChoupal by ITC, could be a reality in next six years. A Skill Gap Analysis Study by CII says given the limited growth in the State, organised retail has huge potential in the Tier-II cities reasons for which could be higher disposable income due to IT and ITeS sector boom as well as the manufacturing sector growth. The demand has not reached saturation point whereas lower rentals compared to metros and mini metros make the State an ideal destination for organised retail venture,” the report says. Basing its analysis on the feedback provided by the existing players in the State, the report said the size of the organised retail is likely to grow by at least 150 percent by 2015. Supermarket chains like More are set to get into the fray in the State. Interesting is the trend it projects for the sector which says it will move from Bhubaneswar towards Berhampur, Puri, Sambalpur and Rourkela. It will not only provide more employment to people but also the economic chain will be positively affected.

Since Bhubaneswar boasts of just a few of the lifestyle top-end chains, the CII-PWC report says, by the turn of 2015, high-end luxury brands, both national and international, would enter the State hinting that Shoppers Stop, Westside, Planet Retail and Lifestyle would soon be a reality. Keeping the current expansion plans of the existing players, the report is of the view that the people to be employed in the retail sector in next three to four years would witness a 100 percent jump. By 2015, employment figure would have crossed 10,000.

Source: New Indian Express

State awaits Centre's nod on 2nd IIIT at Berhampur

The Orissa government has submitted its proposal to the Centre for setting up of the second International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Berhampur. The state government is now awaiting the Centre's nod in this regard. The second IIIT at Berhampur is proposed to be set up on the public private partnership (PPP) mode. “The state government has already submitted its proposal to the Centre for the second IIIT in the state. We are awaiting the final approval from the Centre to go ahead”, said Pradipta K Mohapatra, the state IT secretary recently. It may be noted that the Centre planned to set up 20 more IIITs across the country on the PPP mode. The state government has identified around 100 acres of land at Rangeilunda near Berhampur for setting up the second IIIT.

Meanwhile, the full-fledged campus of the existing IIIT in the state at Bhubaneswar has been inaugurated by the state chief minister on October 9 this year. The new campus of IIIT-Bhubaneswar is coming up on 23.5 acres of land at Gothpatna on the outskirts of the city at an investment of Rs 48 crore. Plans are also afoot to get the deemed university status for this institute. The institute is presently operating out of the campus of the Orissa Computer Application Centre (OCAC). The institute is expected to be fully operational in the next five years. Once the institute is fully operational, the student intake will go up to 2,000. The faculty strength is expected to be about 20 by the end of 2009. Earlier, IIIT-Bhubaneswar had announced that it would offer BTech courses in four streams of engineering as well as doctoral programmes from the 2009-10 academic session. The BTech courses would have a total intake of 240 students. These courses would be offered in four streams of engineering- computer science, electronics, information technology and electrical engineering.

Source: Business Standard

Manufacturing to be big recruiter in Orissa by 2015

With an investment outlay of nearly Rs 3.5 lakh crore, Orissa is all set to create huge employment opportunities across the sectors. According to a report on ‘Skill Gap Analysis’ for Orissa, prepared jointly by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and PriceWaterHouseCoopers, metal and manufacturing, mineral and mining, chemical and fertilizer, power, IT & ITeS, tourism, retail, health care and port sectors would be the major employment generators by 2015.

The metal and manufacturing sector would witness a capacity addition of nearly 58 million tonne by this period, which is projected to lead to an additional requirement of 60,000 skilled manpower like engineers, diploma holders and ITI passed technicians. As per the report, the state government has signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) for production of nearly 75 million tonnes steel. This is going to generate additional employment of nearly 1 to 1.25 lakh.

Similarly, power sector would see an additional requirement of nearly 30,000 persons. The sectors like chemical and fertilizer are expected to experience a growth of about 10-12 per cent. The growth in the manufacturing sector would boost the service sector particularly organized retail, healthcare and tourism. That apart, the service sector growth would be fueled by the growth of IT and ITeS sector in the state. After recovery from the current slowdown, the state will require additional 10,000 to 12,000 skilled hands in the IT and ITeS sector by 2015.

On the other hand, the organised retail sector would grow by over 150 per cent by this time and an additional 10,000 jobs are expected to be created. Tourism sector which is now facing a negative growth would turn around and there would be an addition of nearly 3000 hotel rooms in the state leading to creation of employment opportunity for nine to twelve thousand more people. Demand for professionals related to healthcare sector would grow as corporate hospitals like Apollo and Care are setting up their facilities in the state, the report forecast.

Source: Business Standard