Bhubaneswar: Odisha recorded an increase of 55% in exports during the current financial year up to November despite the adverse situation caused by COVID-19 pandemic, said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today while inaugurating the State Export Award Ceremony-2021 through videoconferencing.

"This is an outstanding achievement by the exporters of Odisha despite global recession and stiff international competition. I congratulate the exporting community of the State for this remarkable feat and hope this upward trend will continue in the coming years," the CM said.

"My Government is striving to create a conducive atmosphere to promote export through greater ease of doing business, implementation of 5T mechanism, infrastructure support and facilities for quality standardization. We are among the top five States in the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020 released by the Niti Aayog," said Patnaik.

"I am also happy to know that district level export promotion committee has been constituted in each district to facilitate export of local products. There are many local MSME products which have the potential to compete in the global market. Time is not far off when the Departmental stores in Europe and America will be studded with products made by our Women Self Help Groups from Kalahandi, Kandhamal and Malkangiri," he added.