In a major push to accelerate project execution, the Odisha government has handed over documents for over 7,000 acres of land for the proposed Adani Group-International Resources Holding (IRH) joint venture’s integrated greenfield aluminium complex in the state just over two months after signing the memorandum of understanding (MoU).
Officials on Friday said the state government has handed over documents for 4,000 acres in Sundargada district and another 3,000 acres in Rayagada district, marking a significant milestone for the proposed $11.5 billion (around ₹1.08 trillion) project. The land documents were handed over by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi in the presence of India’s Ambassador to the UAE Deepak Mittal.
Hemant Sharma, additional chief secretary of the industries department, said the land for the project was handed over within 70 days of the signing of the MoU. “The agreement was signed on July 2 this year and the land documents were handed over on September 9, making the turnaround from investment commitment to land handover 67 days. This is the speed of doing business Odisha has adopted to facilitate large-scale investments,” he said at a roadshow in Dubai.
The Adani Group and IRH, a unit of Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company (IHC), have proposed to invest $11.5 billion in a 50:50 joint venture to develop a large integrated aluminium complex in Odisha. Billed as India’s largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in mining and metallurgy and the biggest FDI proposal for Odisha, the project will come up in two locations and in two phases, with about ₹66,000 crore earmarked for the first phase and another ₹42,000 crore for the second.
The proposed complex will cover the entire aluminium value chain, from alumina production and aluminium smelting to downstream manufacturing. It will include a 4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) alumina refinery, a 2 mtpa aluminium smelter, a 1 mtpa downstream manufacturing park and a 4,000 megawatt (Mw) captive power plant, including 400 Mw of green power capacity.
The aluminium refinery will come up in Rayagada district, closer to the bauxite mines from where the raw materials will be sourced, while the smelter and captive power plant will be set up in Sundargarh district.
The swift land handover comes at a time when Odisha is seeking to convert investment commitments into projects on the ground by reducing the time taken for clearances, land allocation and other pre-project requirements. The government has been prioritising faster project facilitation as a key component of its investment strategy to attract large domestic and global investors.
“We started our engagement with IHC with an $11.5 billion FDI commitment, and now they have doubled the proposed investment. The company is interested in investing $22 billion in Odisha, with the only condition being that the state government maintains the same speed of doing business,” said Sharma.
A couple of days ago, the Adani Group and IHC signed agreements with the Odisha government to explore 14 projects involving a combined estimated investment of ₹2.1 trillion ($22 billion). The proposed projects are expected to generate nearly 189,700 direct and on-site employment opportunities.
The investment proposals span a wide range of sectors, including mining and metals, iron-ore beneficiation, slurry and pellet production, industrial parks and SEZs, container manufacturing, coal-to-chemicals, rare-earth and critical minerals, shipbuilding and ship repair, food and agro-processing, renewable energy equipment manufacturing, artificial intelligence data centres, petrochemicals and packaging, healthcare, and sustainable urban development.
The major proposals included a ₹50,000 crore hyperscale AI data centre hub at Naraj in Kataka district, a ₹40,000 crore coal-to-chemicals complex at Bedabahal, a ₹25,000 crore iron-ore beneficiation, slurry and pellet chain, and a ₹25,000 crore renewable energy storage and equipment manufacturing platform.
Besides, a ₹20,000 crore shipbuilding, ship-repair and green ship-recycling cluster, a ₹15,000 crore integrated sports, wellness and sustainable city, a ₹10,000 crore petrochemical downstream and packaging park, a ₹5,000 crore Adani-UAE Industrial Park and SEZ at Dhamra and a ₹5,000 crore Odisha rare-earth corridor and critical minerals park have also been proposed.
IHC is one of the world’s largest investment companies, with a market capitalisation of around $233 billion and a portfolio of more than 1,300 subsidiaries spanning technology, infrastructure, financial services and consumer businesses. IRH operates as a global mine-to-market platform with interests across the mining value chain.
