BHUBANESWAR (PTI): The Odisha government has made a proposal to the Tata Group to set up a defence manufacturing cluster in the state.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik met a delegation of the company, including Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekharan, in Bhubaneswar at the state secretariat on Tuesday and asked Tata Advanced Systems to consider developing the cluster on 871 hectare of land at Naraj in possession of Tata Power.

"The state is also coming up with a dedicated policy to facilitate investment in the sector (defence manufacturing)," Patnaik said.

After the meeting with the CM, Chandrasekharan said, "The company has announced an investment of Rs 25,000 crore for expansion of its steel mill at Kalinga Nagar and Rs 35,000 crore in Bhusan Steel, Angul. And, there are other things we are looking at. So it is a significant presence for us."

He said the capacity of Kalinga Nagar plant would be 8 mtpa after expansion, and integration with Bhushan Steel was going on well. "Therefore, overall investment has significantly increased in the state."

Expressing happiness over the expansion of the Kalinga Nagar plant, the CM asked the Group to consider developing a steel downstream cluster there with provision of liquid metal.

Patnaik also put forth several other proposals, including an e-vehicle project by Tata Motors, a manufacturing unit by Tata Chemicals at Paradip and sought more investments in the manufacturing sector at Tata SEZ and DTA area to generate employment.

"He (Chandrasekharan) said that Tata Sons would consider all the proposals of the Chief Minister and try its best to realise the proposed projects," an official statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.