Views of Manas Ranjan Panda: “Odisha has become a key leader in IT”

Several state governments in India are offering incentives to attract investments in the data centre space in their regions. For instance, Odisha’s Data Centre Policy, 2022 aims to create an enabling environment for accelerated investment in data centre projects through strategic initiatives and concessions and by promoting ease of doing business within the state. Additionally, this minerals and metals rich state has introduced progressive policies on semiconductors, electronics and IT, BPOs and start-ups to promote the IT/ITeS sector. This is critical, considering that Odisha houses hundreds of large and small IT and professional services consultancy firms, creating strong demand for data centre services to support IT infrastructure needs. At tele.net’s 7th Annual Conference on Data Centres in India held in Mumbai, Manas Ranjan Panda, Special Secretary, Electronics & Information Technology, Government of Odisha, and Managing Director, Odisha Computer Application Centre, shared his insights into the data centre landscape in the state…

Odisha is the highest producing Indian state for steel, aluminium and chromite. It is also rich in other mineral reserves for nickel (92 per cent), bauxite (53 per cent), manganese (44 per cent), iron ore (35 per cent) and coal (24 per cent). Over the years, Odisha has come a long way from being among India’s most prominent metal and mineral powerhouse states to becoming a key leader across various sectors such as information technology, petrochemicals, biotechnology and textiles. It has leveraged its vast pool of natural resources to create robust physical infrastructure, rural and urban road networks, railway networks, data networks, etc.

That said, Odisha is a state that has not yet been fully explored and is one of the country’s best-kept secrets. It is home to 45 million people and its GDP is more than $100 billion, with the industrial and service sectors contributing almost 43 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively, to the GSDP.

Further, during the Utkarsh Odisha Conclave held in January 2025, the state attracted total investments of nearly $209 billion across diverse sectors, with the IT, electronics, data centre, and semiconductor segments alone accounting for approximately $2.3 billion. It is a revenue-surplus state and fiscally well managed as per recent data from NITI Aayog. Odisha is committed to maintaining this growth momentum, with the aim of becoming a $500 billion economy by 2036 and a $1.5 trillion economy by 2047.

Favourable environment for data centres

Power is a key resource for the efficient functioning of data centres, and Odisha is a power-surplus state with an installed capacity of 20,000 MW and a stable grid. Odisha offers one of the lowest power tariffs in the country. The industrial tariff is approximately Rs 5-Rs 6 per unit, with an additional subsidy of Rs 2 per unit for a period of seven years from the date of commencement, further reducing the effective rate. Moreover, Odisha plans to augment its renewable capacity addition by enhancing another 8,000-10,000 MW by 2030.

To add to this, it provides reliable internet connectivity, and the upcoming carrier-neutral cable landing station at Puri is expected to further augment this by providing low-latency, high speed internet.

At the same time, given that Bhubaneswar is inland, it is also shielded from natural calamities like floods and cyclones. Moreover, Odisha has 11 per cent of the country’s water resources. This is a major advantage since water is utilised in data centre cooling operations.

Odisha also has dedicated land parcels (estimated at more than 700 acres) available at affordable rates, which can be used by IT and electronics companies for setting up projects, such as data centres. Further, in addition to creating special economic zones, it has nine government-notified IT towers and eight software technology parks (the highest for any state).

The state takes pride in hosting the first digital fab lab in eastern India, established with support from the Fab Foundation, USA. Odisha also has electronics manufacturing clusters and a common facility, with a centre coming up with test and measurement, prototyping, molding and tooling facilities, and IT parks. O-Hub is a world-class incubation centre set up by the Government of Odisha with best-in-class services for the start-ups of Odisha.

Complementing these physical resources and a favourable environment is Odisha’s large talent pool. Nearly 100,000 technical students graduate from the state each year, while more than 300,000 industry-ready manpower was created by the Odisha Skill Development Authority. The authority also runs the World Skill Center, in collaboration with Singapore’s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, offering a range of industry-oriented courses for new-age workers. It also has 26 emerging tech hubs in the country.

Regulatory support

The Odisha government is actively positioning the state as a leading destination for data centre investments through a comprehensive set of incentives and policy support. Notably, Odisha’s Data Centre Policy was introduced just before the Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR), providing investors the flexibility to choose between the two frameworks. Depending on their needs, investors can selectively avail of incentives under either the IPR or the Data Centre Policy.

Some of the major incentives available for data centre investors in Odisha are:

• Power: 100 per cent exemption on electricity duty and electrical inspection fee up to a contract demand of 5 MVA for 10 years; industrial power tariff applicability; 30 per cent power bill subsidy for five years from the commencement of commercial operations (up to Rs 20 million); reimbursement of energy audit bill at 75 per cent of audit cost (capped at Rs 200,000)
• Capital subsidy: 20 per cent capital investment subsidy (excluding land)
• Land: 100 per cent exemption on stamp duty and conversion charges
• Human capital: 50 per cent reimbursement on skill certifications (capped at Rs 300,000 per year per unit) and intern stipend for up to 10 interns for up to six months
• EPF/ESI: 50 per cent reimbursement of the employer’s share for five years (100 per cent for employees domiciled in Odisha)
• SGST: 100 per cent reimbursement of net SGST on outward supplies for up to seven years (land and building cost), limited to 100 per cent of FCI
• Green initiatives: 25 per cent subsidy on new plants, machinery, civil works for green measures (green buildings, wastewater treatment, ETP, deep sea discharge), up to Rs 100 million per unit
• Internet bandwidth: 25 per cent reimbursement on internet/leased line/fibre charges (up to Rs 2.5 million per unit for three years).

Future roadmap

While Odisha’s data centre ecosystem is not as big as that of Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu, it is certainly growing at a healthy pace and attracting attention from investors. The Reserve Bank of India’s new greenfield data centre is expected to become operational in the next six months. The National Data Center of NIC offers a comprehensive range of hosting and infrastructure services, including shared and dedicated hosting, managed hosting solutions, co-location, high-capacity bandwidth and disaster recovery services. Meanwhile, the Odisha State Data Center provides Tier II standard infrastructure to host e-governance applications of the Government of Odisha and its constituent departments.

On the industrial front, Bharti Airtel has established data centres in the state. The Adani Group has also procured land for its upcoming data centre and edge data centre within the city. Other players like Yotta, Contralex and Zoho have also received the government’s approval for their upcoming investments in the state.

Meanwhile, several semiconductor sector companies, particularly in the silicon carbide sector, are making investments in Odisha. The government has approved two semiconductor projects: RIR Power Electronics (September 2024) and SiCSem (January 2025). This reflects the presence of a growing IT ecosystem in Odisha.

In addition to the data centre policy, Odisha is actively engaging with industry stakeholders to refine and launch several new policies to attract investments. These include revised electronics and semiconductor policies, an upcoming AI policy, a new IT policy, a fintech policy, and a Global Capability Centre policy. The state is also considering viability gap funding to bridge financial gaps and enable private-public investment collaboration.

Further, as part of its Vision 2036 and 2047, Odisha aims to develop a network of international data centres in the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri Economic Region (BCPER), along with Tier IV data centres in Rourkela and the Bargarh-Jharsuguda Sambalpur tricity region. These data centres will have ready-to-use facilities offering scalable solutions for global and domestic IT companies. Finally, the government is also planning to launch targeted initiatives to increase the penetration of edge data centres in landlocked areas, especially in Tier II cities.