New Delhi: At Odisha Food Pro 2026, Shri Hemant Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Industries, Information & Public Relations and Home Departments, delivered a compelling presentation outlining Odisha’s transformative roadmap for the food processing sector.
Through an interactive session backed by concrete investor case studies, ACS Shri Sharma demonstrated how the state is systematically building a world-class ecosystem designed to turn agricultural and marine wealth into high-value global exports.
ACS Shri Sharma is scaling Odisha’s industrial landscape in a big way, driving a strategic vision to establish the state as eastern India’s primary food processing hub. He showcased the state’s aggressive push to ensure that every major domestic and international food brand operating in India sets up a manufacturing base in Odisha.
Highlighted during the session were progressive policy measures under the Odisha Food Processing Policy, which offers attractive capital investment subsidies, concessional land rates, power subsidies, complete exemptions from electricity duty, and full reimbursement of SGST to lower operational costs for investors.
To support this rapid expansion, Shri Sharma detailed the state’s whole-of-government approach to infrastructure development, including plans to double the existing footprint of food parks by establishing five new state-of-the-art facilities across strategic corridors such as Khurda-Cuttack, Bargarh, Nuapada, Berhampur, and Balasore.
Each park will span approximately 200 acres equipped with industrial power, dedicated water supply, effluent treatment systems, and residential amenities. He also highlighted growth avenues in high-potential sub-sectors like packaged snacks, seafood, processed millets, non-basmati rice, and GI-tagged local produce.
The proactive investor outreach championed by Shri Sharma and the state administration yielded immediate dividends at the mega roadshow. Odisha secured investment proposals worth over 43,000 crore rupees, comprising 27 Memorandums of Understanding and multiple Investment Intent Forms, creating the potential for over 43,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Reaffirming the state’s commitment to seamless ease of doing business, Shri Sharma invited global and national industry leaders to leverage Odisha’s robust connectivity, rich natural resources, and supportive governance to share in the state’s dynamic growth trajectory.