Odisha revives its maritime legacy with modern ports, blue tourism, and sustainable growth, blending heritage with innovation for a global future
Charudutta Panigrahi
Odisha, in 2025, stands at a historic confluence. Its cultural wellspring—Bali Jatra, Kartika Purnima, Boita Bandana—remains alive, not as romantic nostalgia but as the DNA of an emergent maritime vision. The state’s port-led industrial economy and blue tourism drive are not divergences from its past but direct continuations—realizing anew what the Sadhabas understood: greatness comes from openness, adaptability, and integration of land, sea, and people.
On the luminous night of Kartik Purnima, thousands of paper boats carrying flickering lamps are set afloat on rivers across Odisha. The people do not merely celebrate a festival—they invoke a civilizational memory. Bali Jatra commemorates the voyages of Kalinga’s uniquely enterprising seafarers who once sailed to Java, Sumatra, Bali, and beyond. These journeys carried not only spices and textiles but also ideas, art, and faith, binding Odisha to the wider world.
Today, that same spirit of maritime ambition is being reimagined for the 21st century. The Odisha government is positioning the state as the Eastern Maritime Gateway of India, anchoring the nation’s entry into the global Blue Economy. As a cultural economist, I commend & welcome this vision—but I also ask: how will this translate into real, inclusive, and ecologically balanced outcomes?
Anchoring Ambition in Reality
Odisha’s 575-kilometre coastline is poised for a major transformation. With 14 identified port sites, the state plans to expand its port capacity from about 80 to 500 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) by 2047.
Two flagship projects anchor this vision — the ₹21,500 crore Bahuda Port in Ganjam district, planned with a 150 MTPA capacity, and the ₹24,700 crore Shipbuilding Cluster at the Mahanadi mouth. The latter aims to turn Odisha into a global shipbuilding and repair hub.
Together, these projects signal Odisha’s shift from a resource-exporting coastline to a thriving maritime economy, reviving its historic seafaring legacy for a modern industrial era.
Together, these projects promise to turn Odisha’s coast into a dynamic hub of trade and industry, creating vast opportunities for investment and employment. If implemented with integrity, they could generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs, especially in logistics, shipbuilding, and allied services.
Paradip Port, already one of India’s foremost maritime gateways, is being modernized and developed as a Green Hydrogen Hub. We are aware that Non-major ports at Dhamra, Gopalpur, Subarnarekha, and Astaranga are steadily expanding capacity.
Governance: The Framework and the Gaps
Backing Odisha’s bold port expansion is a robust governance framework designed to attract investors and ensure long-term sustainability. The Odisha Port Policy 2022 provides policy stability and clarity, while the Odisha Maritime Board (OMB) serves as a single-window authority, streamlining approvals and operational oversight.
Adding to this, innovative approaches like the BOOST model (Build, Own, Operate, Share, Transfer) and Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) — a first among Indian coastal states — are reshaping the maritime ecosystem. Together, they create a transparent, investor-friendly environment that anchors Odisha’s rise as a modern maritime hub.
But what is required to make this effective? Governance must move beyond policy documents to field-level coordination, timely clearances, and community engagement. The success of these frameworks will depend on how they empower local stakeholders, protect coastal ecology, and ensure that employment reaches the youth of Odisha—not just the investor’s balance sheet.
Blue Meets Orange
Odisha’s maritime vision now looks beyond trade to embrace the full potential of the Bay of Bengal as a space for leisure, culture, and sustainable tourism. Puri, the sacred city of Lord Jagannath, is being developed into an international cruise terminal, opening new avenues for global travellers. Chilika Lake, Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon, is fast emerging as an eco-tourism hub, blending conservation with livelihood opportunities.
Alongside, the state is promoting investments in marinas, luxury cruises, and water sports infrastructure, redefining its coast not just as a commercial corridor but as a vibrant destination for recreation and global tourism.
This is where Odisha’s Blue Economy could meet its Orange Economy—a concept I’ve articulated in the past, to promote coastal tourism, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) business, and music concerts. By blending heritage with modern cultural enterprise, Odisha is turning its coastline into a stage for both global investors and cultural connoisseurs.
The Fragile Coastline
Yet ambition must be tempered with caution. Odisha’s coastline is not just an economic corridor—it is a living ecosystem. Over-commercialization risks eroding biodiversity, displacing fishing communities, and diminishing the cultural sanctity of the coast.
The challenge lies in balance: ensuring that growth remains sustainable, inclusive, and ecologically mindful. The Blue Economy, if pursued with wisdom, can be more than GDP growth—it can be a philosophy of harmony between ocean and society, between trade winds and cultural currents.
From Sailors to Shipbuilders
From the historic voyages of Kalinga’s sailors to the shipbuilding hubs of tomorrow, Odisha’s maritime journey is both ancient and futuristic. The Majhi government’s drive, as expressed, to make Odisha the Eastern Maritime Gateway is not just about ports and tonnage—it is about reclaiming a legacy and projecting it into the 21st century.
As the paper boats float on Kartik Purnima, they symbolize not nostalgia but renewal—a reminder that Odisha’s destiny has always been tied to the sea. Today, with bold investments, cultural imagination, and ecological mindfulness, Odisha is poised to turn its coast into a global hub of trade, tourism, and transformation.
Yet the lesson of Kartik Purnima is also that prosperity must be cyclic, tuned to seasons and tides, never predatory or static. Odisha’s path forward must defend the blue against the unchecked “brown”—balancing investment with conservation, commerce with culture, speed with reflection.
Philosophically, as boats set sail each Kartik dawn, they carry not just wishes for luck and return, but also a reminder: the sea, once lost, is slow to forgive.
As the Odisha Chief Minister noted at India Maritime Week 2025:
“What we are building is not just infrastructure; it is a foundation for a prosperous, resilient, and globally connected future.”
We are with the government, as long as we all believe sincerely that Odisha’s future is blue, illuminated by the golden light of Kartik Purnima.
And yet, the responsibility does not rest with the state alone. The onus of preserving Odisha’s coastline — its ecology, its heritage, its dignity — lies equally with its citizens and civil society. We must come together under this initiative to give tangible shape to the mission:
Vikas Bhi, Virasat Bhi — development with dignity, progress with preservation.
Only then will the boats we set afloat carry not just dreams, but direction.
(The author is a thinker and a cultural economist. Views expressed are personal.)