Charudutta Panigrahi | Will Odisha Pharma Summit 2025 Be a Defining Moment for Eastern India?

Odisha is preparing to host the Odisha Pharma Summit 2025, a landmark event that could redefine the state’s industrial trajectory. Positioned as a gateway for pharmaceuticals and MedTech, the conclave is more than just a showcase — it is a statement of intent. With ambitious targets of 2.5 lakh jobs, large-scale investments and a roadmap to integrate Odisha into India’s pharmaceutical growth story, the state is stepping onto the national stage with confidence.

India already contributes nearly 20 per cent of global generic drug exports, with a domestic industry valued at over $50 billion. Odisha’s entry into this sector is both strategic and symbolic, aligning with the Prime Minister’s Purvodaya vision of industrial resurgence in eastern India. The question, however, is whether this summit will deliver tangible outcomes or risk becoming another high-profile event with limited impact.

Learning from Other States

Odisha’s ambitions are not without precedent. Other states have successfully leveraged regional strengths to attract investment:

Telangana transformed Hyderabad into India’s pharma capital by building dedicated pharma parks and ensuring regulatory ease.

Gujarat invested heavily in logistics and testing infrastructure, making Ahmedabad a trusted hub for generics.

Maharashtra positioned Pune as a biotech and MedTech cluster, supported by strong academic-industry linkages.

Tamil Nadu promoted Coimbatore as a textile and engineering hub, showing how regional branding can drive investor confidence.

Odisha now seeks to emulate these successes by tailoring its investment narrative to the strengths of its own regions.

Odisha’s Regional Investment Story

Coastal Odisha: With ports like Paradip and Dhamra, the coastal belt is primed for logistics, shipping, and export-oriented pharma manufacturing. Its proximity to global trade routes makes it ideal for bulk drug exports and cold-chain infrastructure.

South Odisha: Rich in biodiversity and tribal heritage, this region can be promoted for eco-friendly pharma research, herbal medicine, and agro-based MedTech industries.

North Odisha: Mineral-rich districts such as Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj offer opportunities for chemical intermediates and downstream manufacturing, complementing pharma supply chains.

Central Odisha: Bhubaneswar, already a knowledge capital, can anchor R&D, IT-enabled pharma services, and clinical trials, supported by institutions like AIIMS and IIT Bhubaneswar.

Western Odisha: With its agrarian base, this region is ripe for food processing, nutraceuticals, and renewable energy-linked pharma ventures, ensuring inclusive growth.

By promoting each region’s unique strengths, Odisha can present investors with a mosaic of opportunities, ensuring balanced development across the state.

Promise and Potential

The government has promised 2.5 lakh jobs. Assuming even only 10% materialize, that would mean 25,000 new jobs — a significant boost in a state where unemployment hovers around 7-8 per cent. Jobs would span manufacturing, quality control, clinical research, and logistics.

Odisha’s Pharma Policy 2025 outlines incentives for pharma parks, MedTech clusters, and R&D facilities. If even 10 per cent of promised investments are realized, Odisha could add nearly Rs 75,000 crores in value over the next decade, raising its GDP growth rate by 2–3 percentage points annually.

Challenges Ahead

Execution Gap: Past conclaves saw less than 30 per cent realisation of MoUs. Strict monitoring will be essential.

Infrastructure Readiness: Cold chains, testing labs, and regulatory clearances must be prioritized to match Gujarat or Telangana.

Skill Deficit: Universities and training institutes must rapidly adapt curricula to meet pharma-specific demands.

Global Competition: Odisha must offer cost advantages and policy stability to compete with Hyderabad, Pune, and Ahmedabad.

The state government and specifically the Industries Department and IPICOL deserve recognition for orchestrating this ambitious summit. Their efforts to align policy, infrastructure, and investor outreach have laid the groundwork for Odisha’s emergence as a pharma hub.

The Odisha Pharma Summit 2025 embodies the Purvodaya vision — industrial resurgence in eastern India. If Odisha succeeds, it will reduce regional imbalance, strengthen India’s healthcare exports, and prove that eastern states can drive national growth.

But success will depend on execution. Odisha must move beyond announcements to real factories, real jobs and real GDP growth. As mentioned above, if even 10 per cent of promises are realized, the impact will be transformative. If not, the summit risks being remembered as another expensive spectacle.

Organising such a mega-conclave will cost the state hundreds of crores. Without measurable outcomes, this risks being seen as a wasteful exercise. Citizens will rightly question whether public money is being used effectively.

Odisha stands at a crossroads. The choice is between becoming a pharma powerhouse or letting opportunity slip away. The people of Odisha deserve more than promises—they deserve delivery.

Charudutta Panigrahi is a public policy specialist and a technocrat. He may be contacted at charudutta403@gmail.com.