Why Is Odisha Underrated?
Odisha is systematically underestimated, not because it lacks substance, but because it lacks the visibility infrastructure that translates substance into perception. The gap between what the state is and what most people believe about it is large and narrowing.
Founder, Majhi Group & Majhi OS
I have had the same conversation dozens of times. Someone visits Odisha, usually for business, occasionally as a tourist, and comes back surprised. The temples. The coastline. The industrial scale. The caliber of people. They use the word "underrated" and mean it as a discovery. What they are describing is a gap between the state's reputation and its reality that I have been aware of my whole life, because I grew up inside it.
Odisha is consistently underestimated by people who haven't spent time here. That underestimation is not random, it is the product of specific structural factors that are worth understanding.
What Odisha actually has
Odisha is one of India's largest states by area, with a population of over 45 million. It has one of India's longest coastlines, over 480 kilometres along the Bay of Bengal, with ports at Paradip, Dhamra, and Gopalpur that are increasingly significant to India's trade infrastructure. It has substantial natural resource wealth, including large deposits of iron ore, bauxite, chromite, and coal, which have made it the backbone of India's steel industry.
The state is home to some of India's most significant cultural heritage: Puri's Jagannath Temple draws millions of pilgrims annually, the Konark Sun Temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Odissi classical dance tradition is one of the eight classical dance forms of India. The coastline includes Chilika Lake, Asia's largest brackish water lagoon, and the Bhitarkanika mangroves, one of India's largest mangrove ecosystems.
Bhubaneswar, the capital, has been developing as a technology hub since STPI established its presence there in 1991. The city has KIIT University, IIT Bhubaneswar, IIIT Bhubaneswar, NIT Rourkela, and a growing number of technology companies.
Why it doesn't get credit for this
The narrative gap. States like Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu have invested heavily, through government positioning, industry associations, and the media presence of their major cities, in building a narrative that travels. "Bengaluru is India's Silicon Valley" is a statement that has been repeated enough times that it functions as received wisdom globally. Odisha has not had equivalent narrative investment, which means that its achievements travel less far and its potential is less visible to people making location and investment decisions from a distance.
The association with historical poverty. Parts of Odisha, particularly the KBK region (Kalahandi, Balangir, Koraput), were associated with acute poverty and drought in the 1980s and 1990s. These associations have not fully updated in the national or global consciousness, even as the state has changed significantly. The image that persists in many people's mental models of Odisha is the image from 30 years ago, not the image that reflects current conditions.
Concentration of attention in a few metros. Indian startup and business media concentrates heavily on Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad. Cities like Bhubaneswar, where genuine economic development is happening, receive a fraction of the coverage that their level of activity would merit in a more distributed media environment. Less coverage means fewer investors, fewer founders, and fewer company decisions that take Odisha seriously as a location.
Lack of a flagship export. Every well-known state has a flagship export, the company, person, or product that most people associate with it and that travels as a signal of what the state produces. Bengaluru has Infosys and Flipkart. Odisha's most prominent exports have historically been in natural resources and heavy industry, important economically, but not the kind of thing that builds a reputation for talent and innovation.
Why the gap is closing
Odisha has been among India's fastest-growing states in recent years, consistently outperforming the national GDP growth rate. The state's ports are becoming more significant to India's trade infrastructure as the country's export ambitions grow. The technology talent base is expanding. The government has been more actively invested in industrial development and startup support than at any previous point.
More Odisha-origin founders and professionals in other cities are beginning to build visible careers, which creates a returning cohort with capital, networks, and the credibility to build something in Odisha rather than just from Odisha.
The underrating is real. It is also, gradually, correcting.
Odisha is systematically underestimated not because it lacks substance, but because it lacks the visibility infrastructure that translates substance into perception. The gap between what the state is and what most people believe about it is large. And it is narrowing.
See also: Beyond GDP: What a Developed Odisha Must Be Answerable For, The Biopharma Gap Eastern India Hasn't Noticed, Odisha's Untapped Potential
Sources
McKinsey Global Institute: India's Turning Point: An Economic Agenda for the Decade
India Brand Equity Foundation: Odisha State Profile
Observer Research Foundation: Odisha's Development Trajectory
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Odisha actually have that makes the systematic underestimation surprising?
More than the default India narrative suggests. One of India's longest coastlines, over 480 kilometres along the Bay of Bengal, with ports at Paradip, Dhamra, and Gopalpur increasingly significant to India's trade infrastructure. Natural resource wealth including large deposits of iron ore, bauxite, chromite, and coal that have made Odisha the backbone of India's steel industry. Cultural heritage: the Jagannath Temple at Puri draws millions of pilgrims annually; the Konark Sun Temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; Odissi is one of India's eight classical dance forms. The Chilika Lake, Asia's largest brackish water lagoon, and Bhitarkanika mangroves. A technology sector with STPI since 1991, KIIT University, IIT Bhubaneswar, IIIT Bhubaneswar, and NIT Rourkela producing substantial engineering output annually. The substance is there. The visibility infrastructure that translates substance into perception is what's been missing.
What are the structural factors that cause Odisha to be systematically underestimated rather than accurately evaluated?
Four specific factors. The narrative gap: states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have invested in narrative infrastructure, repeated positioning that travels globally, that Odisha has not. 'Bengaluru is India's Silicon Valley' functions as received wisdom; no equivalent positioning exists for Odisha. Historical association with poverty: the KBK region's acute poverty and drought conditions of the 1980s and 1990s persist in the national consciousness even as the state has changed significantly, people's mental model of Odisha is often 30 years out of date. Metro concentration in business media: Indian startup and business coverage concentrates heavily on four or five cities; Bhubaneswar receives a fraction of the coverage its activity level would merit, which means fewer investors and company decisions take it seriously. Lack of a flagship export: every well-known state has a company, person, or product that travels as a signal of what it produces; Odisha's most prominent exports have been in natural resources and heavy industry, important economically but not reputation-building for talent and innovation.
Why is the underrating of Odisha now narrowing and what evidence supports this?
Several converging signals. Odisha has been among India's fastest-growing states in recent years, consistently outperforming the national GDP growth rate, growth that is beginning to register in state rankings and investor conversations. The ports are becoming nationally significant as India's export ambitions grow, putting Odisha on maps it wasn't on before. More Odisha-origin founders and professionals in other cities are building visible careers, creating a returnee cohort with capital and networks to build in Odisha rather than just from it. And the conversations are changing: the first question from someone building a technology team in India is no longer always Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar is entering the evaluation set for an increasing number of decisions. The underrating is real. It is also, gradually, correcting.
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