By Sabyasachee Dash* 

Odisha has long occupied a paradoxical position in India’s economic story. Rich in iron ore, coal, bauxite, and other minerals, it supplies key raw materials that power the country’s industrial economy. Yet a substantial part of the subsequent value creation from advanced materials and specialised chemicals to finished products, technology and distribution often takes place elsewhere, closer to downstream manufacturing hubs. The result is a gap between the wealth extracted from Odisha’s soil and the wider economic opportunities retained within the State. Bridging this gap is central to Odisha’s ambition of becoming a prosperous, diversified economy by 2036, its centenary year.

The State’s participation in India Chem 2026 in Mumbai offers an opportunity to reconsider that equation. During the two-day investment outreach on October 22 and 23, Odisha secured investment proposals worth ₹53,893.51 crore through nine memoranda of understanding and four investment intents, with a projected employment potential of 20,210. The proposals include NLC India Limited’s investments across power and chemicals and Larsen & Toubro’s proposed ₹8,100-crore investment. While these may not be mistaken for capital already deployed or jobs already created, yet these are encouraging commitments.

The larger significance lies in the direction Odisha wants to take moving from a mineral- and metal-driven economy towards an integrated industrial ecosystem encompassing chemicals, petrochemicals, plastics, engineering, and downstream manufacturing.

Growth offers grounds for optimism

Odisha’s economic indicators provide a reasonable basis for confidence. The State’s Economic Survey 2025–26 estimates real economic growth at 7.9 per cent, against the national estimate of 7.4 per cent. Industry accounts for 41.3 per cent of Odisha’s Gross State Value Added, above the national share of approximately 26.9 per cent in 2024–25. Although the comparison uses different years, it illustrates the State’s unusually strong industrial orientation.

Manufacturing is also gaining ground. Odisha’s Economic Survey projects manufacturing GVA growth of 8.3 per cent in 2025–26, against 7 per cent nationally. The Survey records that eighty industrial projects were implemented during 2025, attracting ₹1.75 lakh crore in investment and directly creating 1.4 lakh jobs. These outcomes offer more tangible evidence of progress than investment announcements alone.

The challenge is to sustain this momentum while ensuring that growth reaches beyond large industrial establishments. A high industrial share does not automatically translate into higher household incomes, broad-based employment, or balanced regional development.

Learning from India’s industrial leaders offer useful lessons

Gujarat has built a formidable chemicals and petrochemicals ecosystem around refineries, ports, industrial estates, and downstream manufacturers. Maharashtra combines industrial diversity with pharmaceuticals, engineering, financial services, and established supply chains. Tamil Nadu demonstrates how manufacturing clusters, technical skills and supplier networks can generate employment across large and small enterprises.

Odisha need not copy any of these models wholesale as its starting point is different. Its opportunity is to combine its mineral and energy advantages with the downstream linkages that have helped established industrial states retain more value within their economies.

Paradip is central to this ambition. The 15-million-tonne-per-annum refinery, the Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region, and the Plastic Park provide a foundation for manufacturing polymers, packaging materials, technical textiles, and chemical intermediates. Dhamra and Gopalpur offer complementary opportunities for port-oriented industries, while Angul and Dhenkanal can support manufacturing linked to metals, coal, power, and existing industrial demand.

Odisha’s steel, aluminium, fertiliser, and mining industries already consume industrial gases, refractories, coatings, water-treatment chemicals, and specialised inputs. Developing local suppliers for these requirements could reduce dependence on distant manufacturing centres, strengthen MSMEs and create additional value without relying exclusively on a new generation of mega projects.

Beyond metals, towards a diversified economy

The emerging investment pipeline reflects this broader ambition. The State is pursuing opportunities in speciality chemicals, fluorochemicals, coal-gasification derivatives, battery materials, green hydrogen, and green ammonia. Projects associated with Talcher Fertilizers and coal-gasification ventures could expand the industrial value chain, while developments involving companies such as SRF, UPL and Deepak Nitrite point to interest in chemical manufacturing.

Yet each opportunity requires a commercial assessment. Coal-based chemicals must demonstrate viability alongside environmental and water-use considerations. Green hydrogen and ammonia need competitive energy economics, dependable infrastructure, and credible markets. Sustaining internationally competitive production remains critical.

Diversification must also extend beyond capital-intensive industries. Textiles, apparel, food processing, electronics, pharmaceuticals, logistics and engineering services can create different kinds of employment and broaden the benefits of industrial growth. The State’s industrial strategy will be stronger if large investors become anchors for local supplier networks rather than isolated enclaves.

Turning investment into the promise of 2036 the employment question is particularly important. According to the Economic Survey, agriculture and allied activities still account for 48.6 per cent of Odisha’s employment, while industry accounts for 27.5 per cent. Large industrial investments can generate substantial output and indirect employment, but their direct workforce requirements may be modest relative to the capital deployed.

This makes skills, apprenticeships, technical education, and MSME participation essential. Industrial expansion should be accompanied by training aligned with actual employer requirements, stronger connections with institutions such as the Institute of Chemical Technology and CIPET, and deliberate efforts to integrate local businesses into supply chains.

Infrastructure and governance matter equally

Odisha’s ports, power availability, industrial land, and improving connectivity offer significant advantages. Its investment facilitation mechanisms can help reduce procedural uncertainty. But investors ultimately judge a destination by the reliability of utilities, timely approvals, logistics costs, and the predictability of implementation.

Environmental safeguards must remain integral to this process. Effluent treatment, water security, waste management, and community concerns cannot be deferred until factories begin operating. Responsible manufacturing is not merely a regulatory obligation; it is essential to long-term industrial competitiveness.

The aspirations of Samruddha Odisha 2036 extend beyond a larger economy. They imply better livelihoods, productive employment, stronger urban and industrial centres, more resilient rural incomes, and greater opportunities for the State’s young people. A deeper manufacturing ecosystem can contribute to these goals by capturing more value within Odisha, expanding its tax base, strengthening exports, and creating opportunities for businesses beyond the largest industrial groups. MSME sector can play a formidable role.

Odisha has the resources, industrial base, and growing investment interest to enter a new phase of economic development. The opportunity is real, but so is the work ahead. Its next industrial leap will be defined not by how much it extracts from the ground, but by how much value, capability, and prosperity it builds upon that foundation. ‎Importantly the state policy frameworks are responding to emerging aspirations. 

The writer is a policy enthusiast who writes columns and hosts podcasts on public policy issues.

(The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author and in no way reflect that of Sambad English)