Bansidhar panda biography of martin

BHUBANESWAR: Noted Odia industrialist Dr Bansidhar Panda, Founder and Chairman Emeritus, of Indian Metal and Ferro Alloys (IMFA), one of the country’s leading ferro-alloy companies, died on Tuesday at his Bhubaneshwar residence.

He was 87.

Panda is survived by his children, Member of Parliament Baijayant Panda and Subhrakant Panda, Paramita Mahapatra and Nita Ganapati. Political leaders across party lines, including Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, extended their condolences to the family.

With a degree from Benaras Hindu University, Panda left for the United States in the fifties to study at Michigan Technological University and Harvard University.

On returning from the US where he worked as a researcher, he established IMFA starting with a plant at Therubali in the then remote and backward district of Koraput in 1961.

The decision to become an entrepreneur and set out to build something as ambitious as an integrate