Bhubaneswar: The State of Odisha has emerged as the preeminent leader in the first phase of national deregulation in 2025, a distinction that signals a profound shift in the state’s political economy. Under the stewardship of Shri Hemant Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) for Industries and Information & Public Relations, Odisha has achieved a perfect 100% compliance rate with the 23 stipulated reforms mandated under the national Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) framework. This success is not merely a statistical milestone but a systemic synthesis of legislative modernization, administrative decentralization, and a trust-based governance model designed to dismantle the vestiges of the “Inspector Raj.”
The success of Odisha in Deregulation 1.0 is anchored in three pillars: the decriminalization of minor regulatory lapses, the modernization of labor statutes, and the technological integration of the single-window clearance mechanism.
The most significant legal shift occurred with the enactment of the Odisha Jan Vishwas Ordinance, 2025. This landmark reform addressed a critical systemic bottleneck: the criminalization of procedural and minor regulatory defaults. Historically, small and medium enterprises faced the disproportionate threat of imprisonment for technical errors in record-keeping or minor compliance lapses.
By replacing criminal penalties with proportionate civil fines and eliminating imprisonment for non-serious breaches, the state has fundamentally altered the relationship between the bureaucracy and the entrepreneur. This reform involved a comprehensive review of 16 state legislations across nine departments—including Municipal Governance, Excise, Fire Services, and Urban Planning. The socio-legal precision of this ordinance lies in its graded penalty structure and the empowerment of designated officials to handle inquiries, which significantly reduces the litigation burden on both the state and the private sector.
In tandem with decriminalization, the state introduced the Odisha Shops and Commercial Establishment (Amendment) Ordinance and the Factories (Odisha Amendment) Ordinance in late 2025. These reforms reflect a layered understanding of causality in economic stagnation—specifically how restrictive labor hours and gender-based constraints inhibited productivity.
The new framework permits commercial establishments to operate 24/7 throughout the year and allows for increased daily working hours within the 48-hour weekly cap. Crucially, the removal of barriers for women in night shifts, subject to rigorous safety and dignity protocols, has expanded the labor pool and empowered female economic participation. This move transitions Odisha from a traditional mineral-based industrial profile toward a modern, diversified manufacturing and service-driven economy.
The success of these reforms is inextricably linked to the administrative continuity and strategic vision provided by Shri Hemant Sharma. As ACS of both Industries and I&PR, Shri Sharma bridged the gap between policy formulation and public perception. Under his leadership, the Industries Department evolved from a regulatory body into an investment facilitation agency.
The integration of the “GO-SWIFT” (Government of Odisha – Single Window for Investor Facilitation and Tracking) portal has ensured that the “Deregulation Module” introduced by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is not just a digital interface but a functional reality. This system provides “deemed approvals” for projects where departments fail to respond within statutory timelines, effectively transferring the burden of delay from the investor to the regulator.
The impact of these deregulatory measures is evidenced by the scale of grounded investments. By the close of 2025, Odisha had successfully translated nearly ₹2.04 lakh crore of investment proposals into tangible, on-ground projects. The state’s strategy, guided by the vision for a “Viksit Odisha” by 2036, focuses on leveraging its natural strengths in mining and metallurgy while aggressively expanding into semiconductors, green hydrogen, and precision manufacturing.
This deregulation success is a moral imperative as much as an economic one. By simplifying the rules of engagement, the state is reclaiming its role as a facilitator of human potential rather than a gatekeeper of resources. The path laid by the Majhi administration and implemented by the State, which suggests that Odisha is no longer merely “mineral-rich and practically poor,” but is actively transforming into a hub of industrial efficiency.