?Ashoka?s war on Kalinga was for iron,? explains the guide at the Konark temple. He?s got it dead right. And there?s a little bit of history repeating itself in Orissa. The world?s top firms, from ArcelorMittal and Tata Corus to South Korea?s Posco and Australia?s BHP, are salivating at the prospect of laying their hands on Orissa?s mineral riches.
A majority of these gold-rush companies are housed in a gleaming glass-fa?aded building appropriately named Fortune Towers. It stands beside a brand new, six-lane road in the state?s capital, Bhubaneswar. Not long ago, this was municipal land used by wandering cows for a bit of grazing.
The blistering economic growth has brought about a transformation that is unfolding at a rapid, almost unnerving clip at India Inc?s new eastern outpost. Says Jitu Mahapatra, who runs the city?s top real estate firm, Orimarg Properties: ?The rise in property here is so sudden, it?s dizzy. Three years ago, doing a couple of thousand square feet a month was an opportunity; now, Bhubaneswar develops that much by the hour.?
Look at the malls alone: three have already opened their doors and 14 others are planned over the next two years. With 200-odd firms from outside Orissa locating here in the last one year, the prices of commercial property have gone up four-fold.
One dramatic change is the conversion of nearby Cuttack into a virtual suburb of Bhubaneswar. Says an official of the Utkal Chambers of Commerce: ?Cuttack can now be called the Noida of Bhubaneswar. New investments are locating in that city since it offers much more space at almost half the price of the capital.?
Some of the biggest Indian brands are already here. Sources in Reliance Retail say that it has plans for 30 stores in Orissa within two years. These include 18 hypermarts, 20 Reliance Fresh stores and 11 specialty stores, including a gold souk. The retail ambitions are spurred by the success of the Pantaloon group, which has one of its most profitable malls here.
Bhubaneswar?s growth really kicked off with Infosys deciding to move here a few years ago. Today, the IT major is admired for bringing an international culture to the sleepy township. It employs nearly 2,500 people at its centre. Its success has surprised the competition and they have moved in en masse. TCS has a facility in Fortune Towers and is opening another nearby. Wipro is planning to move in and Satyam is already here.
Says Rajib Mohanty, a tech professional: ?The real cosmopolitan growth has come from the tech sector; some professionals from Bangalore have moved in, too. The rush for technical courses is for real, and with so many big names already here, I think that in east India, Bhubaneswar will pip Kolkata as the location of choice for software development.?
The increased traffic has lead to a hotel rush. Long timers recall that there were only two hotels two decades ago: the Swosti and the Oberoi (which did not even offer a TV in its standard rooms!) Now, the Taj group has opened its Ginger budget hotel, Radisson is on the way and Park Plaza is looking at opening in the city. Add to that 15 daily flights from six destinations and you have the makings of a tourism boom.
Tourism officials say that the aim is to move away from the mass-market temple visitor to the high-end beach and sea tourist. An hour?s drive from Bhubaneswar is a point from where you can safely embark by motorboat to see dolphins frolic on the high seas. Says Ranjan Panda, a local tour operator: ?Only two years ago, all we had were religious tourists and beach traffic. Now, plans are afoot to offer not just dolphin cruises but fresh lunch caught from the sea and served while you are moored miles off the coast.?
At night, I visit one of the city?s four discos. It?s called Le Blues, at the fashionable Mayfair Hotel. Young people with branded apparel are dancing to Saturday Night Fever. The music may be ?70s, but Bhubaneswar?s mood is defiantly 21st century.