According to the data of the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade on foreign direct investment, from October 2019 to December 2024, when the Biju Janata Dal was in power, Odisha received $172.79 million. Out of this, Odisha’s position is 21st. That is, a negligible 0.06%. At that time, Maharashtra received 31.36, Karnataka 20.31, Gujarat 16.37 percent, while Odisha’s position was very negligible. This clearly shows the weak position of Odisha during the BJD government. Therefore, the BJD should not weigh Odisha’s industrialization in the balance of its failure, said State Spokesperson Shri Satyawatra Panda at a press conference held at the state office.
Mr. Panda said that between October 2019 and 2023, Odisha received an average of $3.45 million in foreign direct investment per month. When the BJD government fell, Odisha was receiving an average of $1.14 million per month between April and June 2024. But after the BJP government came to power, Odisha has set a target of bringing in $200 crore in foreign direct investment by 2029. Between April and September 2025, Odisha received $47 million in just six months. This is $7.83 million per month.
Not only that, the BJD was not able to invest the capital properly. The then Minister of Industry and Energy of the BJD government gave a written reply in the Assembly on July 29, 2022 that an investment of Rs 6.26 lakh crore was announced in the ‘Make in Odisha Conclave’ of 2016 and 2018. Out of this, the then government was able to invest only Rs 5,674.56 crore. That is only 0.91% of the announced investment.
While the popular Chief Minister of Odisha, Shri Mohan Charan Majhi, went to Delhi to bring in semiconductor, artificial intelligence and other technological investments, the diversification of industry beyond mining and metallurgy in Odisha during the BJD government was not possible. The BJD had a dream of industrialization based on the resources under the soil, but the Biju Janata Dal had forgotten that the people above the soil are more useful for industrialization today.
India currently has 1575 to 1800 MW data centers. Maharashtra has 750 to 900, Tamil Nadu has 190 to 320, Telangana has 140 to 160 MW, Delhi NCR has 150 to 190 MW, Karnataka has 100 to 180 MW. But unfortunately, during the then BJD government, there were only 5 MW of such data centers. To accelerate this industry, a 1000 MW data center will be built with an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore in just one project. While data centers provide more employment opportunities to engineers and technical people, they also indirectly create a lot of employment opportunities in the cooling industry, construction, electricity, renewables, real estate.
Therefore, the Bharatiya Janata Party government is committed to taking Odisha ahead in the knowledge-based industry without relying on the mineral resources available in the state. But the Biju Janata Dal is unnecessarily creating confusion among the people. The BJD, which believes in the saying “Who can say that he sells rotten shrimp”, should know that that era is over. The party chief, who never got along with the people, has now misled the people by holding press conferences through some of his leaders and now people have understood the truth. On the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party has come to the government with new hopes and new dreams. Shri Panda said that they are working hard to make the hopes and dreams of four and a half crore Odias come true.
Another spokesperson and head of the industry chamber, Shri Tapan Kumar Chand, said that the then BJD government was committed to diversifying industries and increasing the pace of industrialization. In 2017, when Chand was the chairman of NALCO, the company planned to set up a caustic soda plant worth Rs 600 crore in Odisha. Even after one and a half years of this plan, the then BJD government could not provide land to the company. However, the Gujarat government provided land and other ancillary facilities within 15 days. As a result, today 1200 people are working in this plant in Gujarat. During the BJD government, the foundation stone of 370 projects was laid in the last 10 years, at a rate of 37 per year. But the current BJP government has laid the foundation stone of 151 projects in 2 years.
Due to this, the pace of industrialization has doubled. Shri Chand said that today, Odisha’s industrialization is not limited to mining and metallurgy, but has started in 12 sectors such as electronic systems, semiconductors, solar cells, modules, renewable energy, air technology, gems and jewelry, textiles, ready-made garments, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and green energy.
State General Secretary Smt. Purnima Priyadarsani Nayak and Social Media State Coordinator Shri Umakant Patnaik were present on this occasion.
