Odisha’s cabinet approves 10 proposals across six departments, boosting semiconductor manufacturing, renewable energy policies, and large-scale irrigation projects, signalling a strategic push for faster industrial and social development.
Odisha’s cabinet has approved 10 proposals spanning six departments, with a package of measures that puts semiconductors, renewable energy, irrigation and digital administration at the centre of the state’s development agenda. The decisions, taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi in Bhubaneswar, also include continued funding for child welfare schemes and a large lift irrigation project intended to ease pressure on rain-fed farming. The move extends a policy push that Odisha has been building across industry, water management and social protection.
The most significant industrial decision was a third amendment to Odisha’s semiconductor manufacturing and fabless policy, first introduced in September 2023 and revised twice since. According to the state government, the updated framework is meant to align Odisha with the national semiconductor push and now covers equipment, semiconductor-grade chemicals and gases, advanced materials and other supply-chain inputs, alongside manufacturing, OSAT/ATMP, display production and chip design. The revised package also allows additional support for projects approved under the India Semiconductor Mission, with the state offering assistance equal to 25% of eligible capital expenditure on a pari passu basis with central funding.
In a parallel move, the cabinet amended the Odisha Renewable Energy Policy, 2022, to make the state more attractive for clean-energy investment and to lower costs for consumers. The changes include a duty exemption of 50 paise per unit for eligible net-metering users drawing power from renewable projects set up in Odisha, valid for 10 years from commissioning, and a 20 paise per unit exemption on State Transmission Utility charges for standalone battery energy storage systems charged from renewable sources. The state also scrapped the 500 MW ceiling on wind projects allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and moved to promote wind parks, while GRIDCO was named nodal agency for legacy small hydro projects.
Agriculture and water security took a large share of the cabinet’s attention. Odisha approved the ₹12,458 crore Parbati Giri Mega Lift Irrigation Project, a five-year plan starting in 2026-27 that will cover 161 schemes across all 30 districts and add irrigation potential over 262,275 hectares, according to Chief Secretary Anu Garg. The state has long used lift irrigation and underground pipeline systems to reach upland areas where gravity-fed canals are impractical, and recent cabinet decisions show that approach continuing at scale. The cabinet also cleared the third phase of its tanks and minor irrigation project renovation scheme, with ₹389 crore over four years to restore 680 projects and revive irrigation over about 15,700 hectares.
The social welfare approvals centred on children. Odisha extended the Jashoda scheme and its Ashirbad sub-scheme for another five years with a combined outlay of ₹296.99 crore, while the Malati Devi Prak Vidyalaya Paridhan Yojana will continue for the same period with ₹586.51 crore. Together, the two programmes are expected to reach children without parental care, children affected by HIV, children who have lost a breadwinner and nearly 1.48 million pre-school children each year through anganwadi centres. The cabinet’s latest decisions, taken together, underline a broader attempt to pair industrial policy with infrastructure spending and welfare support as the state pushes for faster growth.
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