Bhubaneswar, May 13 (IANS): Several US companies have expressed their interest for investment in Odisha, said an official on Wednesday.

The perspective investors interacted with chief secretary Asit Tripathy and other senior officers of the state under the leadership of Dr Mukesh Aghi, president and CEO of US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).

Tripathy chaired the interactive session through video conference with the members of USISPF on Tuesday, said a statement.

The investors were from various sectors like energy, agri-business, nutrition, aviation, information technology, metals and renewable energy.

The leading industries which have shown interest in the interaction included ATC, Avaada Energy, Carirn Energy, Cisco, Exxon Mobil, Herbalife, HP, Mars, Microsoft, Oracle and Paypal, the statement said.

Replying to the queries of perspective investors, the chief secretary said, "Many of our industrial estates are now in green zone. As of now, around 60% of the industries are now running by virtue of adopting the COVID preventive measures."

He said the state has followed policy consistency in matters of industrial promotion and now the state is on the verge of rolling out more progressive regulations in matters of land leasing, contract farming, direct farmer-market connect that will open new avenues of investment.

Industries secretary Hemant Sharma said Odisha is a pioneer state in having a stabilised single window clearance system for investment proposals.

The state has been among top-five lead states in ease of doing business, he added.

Electronics and Information Technology secretary Manoj Mishra said, "We have well developed electronic and manufacturing sector just close to the capital city. The state is rich with skilled manpower in electronic and IT."